Secrets
by xXCherrybearXx
Summary: REWRITE OF HONOHA HIGH- Because some secrets are better left unsaid. AU, rated T for now. Summary is subject to changed
1. Chapter 1

**OK! So, here's the first chapter in the rewrite! I actually like the way it starts out a bit better, although the other one was pretty cool too! I got my wisdom teeth out today, so I figured I'd go ahead and upload this chapter. See, I was trying to stay ahead of my updates and such by writing a bunch of chapters and THEN uploading once a week. It kinda didn't work, actually, so I'm just adding this one and then going to work on the other 3 chapters since I have nothing else to do. **

**Well, I hope this version is a bit better than the other one; I think it'll tie stuff together much more smoothly than the other one would have! **

"Yo Mouse, you still awake?" came the muffled, slightly static laced voice from under a covering of papers. Fingers quickly clacked away at a keyboard, not bothering to reply. The man's voice spoke again, louder this time. "Mouse…!" With a sigh, the fingers stopped their quick dance and dug out the headset.

"Yes, V, I'm awake. I'm _always_ awake." Came the annoyed reply as the fingers linked to the hand radio's frequency. "Now what do you want? I'm very busy."

"Hey, I'm just checking in like you said to, so don't get all pissy with me kid." V bit back. A smile twitched across Mouse's lips as her fingers went back to their furious typing.

"Alright then, what'dya got for me V?" She asked as her sharp eyes flicked rapidly across the screen.

"All clear on this side of town. That pack must've moved on already. Too bad though," V sighed. "It would have been fun to eradicate them…" Mouse's smile grew bigger and she let her voice adopt a teasing tone.

"What's this? I didn't know you could use such big words V." Before V could send back a retort, a sharp, high pitched cackle burst in on their conversation. Mouse jumped at the wild, unexpected sound, her fingers slipping on the keyboard.

"Dammit Crow!" V growled out. "Why the fuck do you have to do that without warning us!" A giggle answered him.

"_Oh que j'ai peur le pauvre bébé? Je suis désolé_ ..." Came the silky female voice. Mouse could almost see the annoyed look on V's face as they young woman spoke in French. A small smirk graced her lips.

"Don't you have something to do?" She asked her partner.

"Don't you?" Came the bored reply. Mouse's lips twitched to the side in annoyance. "Anyway, we're clear over here." Crow reported, yawning at the end. "I doubt we're going to get much trouble tonight." Mouse rolled her chair across the little space to another set of computers.

"Alright," She said as she typed on that computer as well. "I'll check in with the others. You two can head back now."

"Got it." Crow yawned again and disconnected her radio.

"Finally…" V grumbled, disconnecting seconds later. Mouse keyed in a few more commands, and then connected to the remaining members of their group.

"Yo boys, this is Mouse," She said, scooting herself back to her main computer. "I need info, ASAP. All clear on your ends?" A soft wave of static whispered in her ears for a few moments before the first reply.

"It's Weasel. All clear here."

"Nothin'." Came the voice of Puppet. Cash was the final one to call in.

"I got nothin' either…" He said boredly. "Can we go home now?"

Mouse's fingers paused over the keyboard as she looked up in thought.

"Yeah, head back," She said absentmindedly. "Sorry I couldn't help out tonight boys; this stupid report has me busy…"

"Don't worry 'bout it Mouse," was Cash's lazy reply. "You're not missin' much." Moments later he ended the connection.

"Have fun with that report of yours." Puppet added in before he disconnected too. Mouse frowned at the hidden laughter in his words. She leaned back in her chair to stare up at the dark ceiling. With a sigh, she closed her eyes.

"Hey Weasel?" She called out quietly after a few moments of silence.

"…Yes?" Came the smooth reply. Mouse opened her eyes.

"I was wondering," She said. "Did you hear that Orochimaru is back in town?"

"Yes, I heard the rumor."

"Did you hear that he was bringing along a few kids too?"

"Yes."

"Do you know who they are?"

"…Yes, I do…" Mouse sat back up to look at her computer.

"Alright, just curious to see if you knew." With a click, the final connection was severed, and the fingers continued their furious typing.

**A Few Days Earlier**

Hundreds of loud voices filled the air with greetings and shouts as they filed through the high wrought iron gates into the wide courtyard beyond. Face after face broke into happy grins as friends hugged each other tightly after the few weeks apart. Families crowded around together, talking as they all headed toward the main office building ahead. Excitement buzzed in the air for both new and returning students of Konoha High Boarding school. Once inside the cool office building, the crowd herded towards the desk where a young woman with chocolate brown hair was handing students folders and giving out directions. The young woman smiled as a familiar blue eyed girl stepped forward. Her pale blonde hair was loose and wavy for a change, falling over her shoulders and down to the small of her back. She had on a purple spaghetti strap shirt and a white skirt, a fancy pair of white Jimmy Choo's on her feet.

"Konnichiwa, Shizune-san!" The girl chirruped brightly.

"Konnichiwa, Ino-chan, how was your break?" She asked as she looked for the blonde's name among the tide of manila folders.

"It was great! I got to go to America for a while and visit my grandma. It's good to be back though, I'm gonna miss being a freshman and all, but it's great to be a sophomore now!" Ino gushed and babbled away. Shizune found the folder marked "_Yamanaka, Ino_" and turned to the blonde again.

"Sounds like you had a lot of fun during your break!" She said, handing the folder over. "Now, your keycard and ID should be in there, please don't lose them again like last year." The blonde grinned. "Your class schedule and a list of the rules should be in there too. Give the big packet to your parents to fill out and bring it back when school starts, it's got stuff for next school year. Oh, and welcome back to school." She finished with a smile. Ino took the packet and started back off to where her father was waiting.

"Thanks Shizune-san!" The blonde called over her shoulder.

"Oh wait, Ino!" Shizune called quickly as she remembered. The blue eyed girl looked back quizzically. "If you happen to run into Sakura and Naruto, send them up here; they're supposed to be helping me!"

"Got it!" Ino shouted over the noise and ran off to her father.

Meanwhile, a wiry blonde teenager and his pink haired conspirator were darting towards the back of the main office, weaving in and out of the crowd of students going towards the dorms.

"Ne, ne, slow down Sakura-chan!" The boy complained as he struggled to keep up with his tiny friend. Ahead of him, the pink haired teen ran easily through the throng of people.

"Forget it Naruto!" She laughed. "You need the exercise!" Behind her, she heard her friend gasping as he strained to keep up with her. She finally took pity on him and stopped a few yards from the back of the gym. Naruto stopped beside her, trying to catch his breath.

"That…was so…not cool…!" He gasped out. Sakura giggled, adjusting her jacket onto her slim shoulders, not winded in the least.

"You're right," She said brightly. "It wasn't!"

Opening a door, the two crossed the spacious gym and made their way past the cafeteria, through another door, and into the back room of the office. A few of their teachers lounged around, enjoying the final hours of break before they had to begin preparing for the new year's classes. A man that couldn't have been older than thirty sat with his back to the two as they walked in, his silver hair flying off to the side and head bowed over a little orange book. He wore a pair of jeans and a short sleeved gray shirt. A medical mask hid most of his face, like it normally did all through the year. He sat relaxed and carefree on the couch, seemingly oblivious to the world. Sakura snuck up behind the young English teacher and peered over his shoulder.

"Haven't you read that book like, ten times already?" She asked after a few moments. The man turned a page.

"Eleven times, actually." Kakashi said, his voice muffled by the mask he wore. Frowning in slight disappointment at her teacher's lack of emotion, Sakura vaulted herself over the back of the couch to sit beside him.

"Ten is close enough." She said with a shrug. "But how can you keep rereading that boring thing? It's got nothing but sex and adultery in it." Kakashi closed his book and gave his student a pointed look.

"First of all, it's an adult novel, so it isn't something a kid your age should read or should be interested in anyway. And second, don't you have something else to do?" The pink haired girl stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"Oh yeah, I do…" She muttered quietly. "Almost forgot. Come on, Naruto!" Sakura chirped, getting up and heading towards the front door quietly, the blonde trailing two steps behind her.

Naruto waved over his shoulder. "Later, Kakashi!" He called back. Kakashi waved absentmindedly towards his two favorite students, absorbed once more in his little orange book.

The two teens hurried down the small hallway behind the door and looked through the front window to see the hundreds of students chattering outside. Sakura stepped out into the loud throng, jumping over a stack of folders to get to the woman trapped inside.

"Sorry we're late Shizune-neesan! We had to finish putting up the rules and posters in the dorms before everyone got here." She said, giving the young woman a hug.

"Yeah, and someone wouldn't get up!" Naruto added, wading through the pale yellow sea. Sakura stuck out her tongue. Dictionary - View detailed dictionary

"Hey, I couldn't get any sleep, ok?" She said as she plopped down in the chair next to Shizune. A student stepped up beside the kid Shizune was presently helping.

"Name?" Sakura asked brightly.

"Um, Hirohata Keitaro…" the boy muttered, dropping his gaze to his feet.

"What year?"

"Uh, f-freshmen…" He peeked up from under his dark brown bangs. Sakura smiled at the new student.

"Alright then, we'll get your folder for you right away!" Sakura sifted through the stack of freshmen folders with Naruto until she found the right one.

"Aha! Here it is!" She turned back to the boy and handed him his folder. "Now give the folder to your parents to fill out all the forms and such. You're ID, keycard, and list of school rules are in there as well." The boy took the folder and nodded shyly.

"Thank you…" He trudged away quietly.

"Oh, welcome to Konoha High by the way!" Sakura yelled after him, giving a big wave to the kid. The boy stopped and gave her a small smile before waving back and leaving. With that, Sakura turned to the next student waiting in line and repeated the process. This went on for a bit longer until a familiar fury face barked in excitement. Sakura looked up and grinned at the giant white hound bouncing up and down in front of her, its owner walking up behind him.

"Hey, Akamaru!" Sakura said in a high pitched, excited voice, rubbing the dog's fluffy head between her two small hands. Akamaru barked loudly in reply, proceeding to eagerly lick at her chin.

"Alright, alright, down boy!" She giggled, attempting to set the giant dog's front paws on the ground again. A pair of dark tanned hands grabbed Akamaru's legs and wrested them from Sakura. With a grin, she looked up to see a dark haired teen with brown eyes and red streaks tattooed on his face. With ease, he put the dog back on all four feet, rubbing between his ears.

"Oi, Inuzuka!" Naruto yelled suddenly behind her. Sakura gave a small jump, clamping her mouth shut to hold back a screech. She waited patiently as the two trouble makers greeted each other.

"Yo, Uzumaki!" Kiba said loudly, bumping Naruto's outstretched fist. "How's it goin' man? How's Konoha been since I left over break?" Sakura smirked ever so slightly.

"Disappointed that you haven't got sent back to preschool so you can be with kids your own age." She interjected, fishing for Kiba's folder.

"Haha," Kiba laughed sarcastically. "Why not join me? I'm sure you'll fit in just nicely with the kids." He indicated Sakura's now hot pink and white hair, her bright pink and white striped sweater with matching jacket, white skirt, and hot pink leggings tucked into her combat boots.*

"Dude," Naruto put on a fake horrified look. "You don't _wanna_ scare the kids do ya?" Sakura rolled her eyes at their loud laughs and handed Kiba the folder.

"Here dog breath, now shoo, you're holding up the line." She waved her hand at him. Kiba grinned and quickly ruffled her already puffed up hair.

"Yeah, yeah," He said as she swatted his hand away. "Later Naruto, Midget!" He called as he walked away, Akamaru trotting faithfully by his side. Sakura shook her head, smiling softly. Kiba might have been the second most annoying and loudest guy at Konoha, next to Naruto of course. He was a good guy though, usually laid back and carefree, always sparing a few jokes to lighten the mood, even if it was at the expense of his friends. A sudden yawn parted her lips and Sakura stretched in her chair.

"Here," she said to Naruto, getting up. "You can sit in the chair for a while."

"Yes…!" He muttered as he got up from among a pile of folders. Sakura sat down to take his place, wriggling around to get comfortable. The rest of the day passed in methodical slowness as one by one the folders disappeared. When the last student had been sent off to greet their roommate after the weeks apart, Sakura stood up and stretched. Loud pops ran from her neck to her tail bone as her back arched leisurely. Quietly, she helped Shizune and Naruto fold up the table and chairs, carrying them into the office behind them. Shizune riffled through the papers on her desk, booting up her computer at the same time.

"Sakura, can you put this on Tsunade-sama's desk for me? I need to type something up on the computer." The brunette asked, holding some papers out behind her.

"Mm-hmm!" Sakura grabbed the loose sheets and headed towards the back office marked _Tsunade_, snagging a sweet off the table standing against the wall. The rosette hummed quietly as she walked into the cluttered office, maneuvering around stacks of folders that Tsunade had yet to open. She laid the paper down on the beautiful oak desk near the back window of the room, making sure it would be easy for the blonde woman to find amidst the ocean of other papers. Sakura shook her head affectionately; Tsunade could be so unorganized. As she pulled back over the desk, her elbow knocked into a small tower of folders, quickly sending it to the ground. With a muttered curse, she started picking them up, trying to put them in their original order. Sakura reached for the last few folders, and a familiar name caught her eye. She froze almost instantly, air suddenly disappearing in her throat, arm still out stretched. There on the floor, right in front of her, sat an open folder, a picture of a young man with dark hair and coal black eyes staring coldly up at her. A name on the label of the folder read: **'Uchiha Sasuke'**. Sakura's fingers curled up slowly into a fist. Emotions that had been kept locked away seeped quickly into her thoughts. Blanking her face into a neutral expression, she fought back the raging feelings. A voice snapped her head around to full attention as her hand quickly closed the folder.

"Yo Sakura-chan," Naruto called from out in the hallway. "You back here?" Sakura nodded.

"Yeah, I'm in here." She called back. "Gimme a sec! I'm trying to get out of all this paper work!"

"Kay…" He said, his voice moving away from the office's door. Sakura looked back down at the folder clenched tightly in her hand. A million questions raced through her mind all at once, the bright haired teen quickly addressing each one. Had Naruto seen the folder? No, probably not, she would have known if he had. Should she tell him about it? Probably not. _Definitely _not. Should she tell anyone else about it? …Maybe. Who was there to tell that she could trust? She raced through images of the people she knew.

Tsunade? Nah, she obviously didn't want anyone knowing about this if she had marked the folders CONFIDENTAL.

Shizune? No, she would just say not to worry about it and wouldn't tell her anything else.

Ino? Haha, yeah right!

Shino, Gaara, and Kanku- No, definitely NOT Kankurou. He'd freak. Gaara and Shino would probably start ranting on how they were going to murder the black haired boy. Definitely annoying there. She ran through a list of adults.

Kakashi? Maybe, he'd probably know what to say. But it would most likely be depressing. Bleh. Sakura suddenly thought of her two roommates.

Hinata and Yoko.

_Of course, why didn't I think of them first?_

An image of the two black haired girls passed through her thoughts. One had a shy smile and soft lilac colored eyes. The other had deep black eyes that seemed to pierce anything they looked at and held a glint of mischief, with a smile that danced across her lips. Her strong arms wrapped around the neck of the other; they would surely know what to do. Her two best friends that knew her even better than Naruto did were the perfect choices. Feeling the slight waves of panic she had been forcing down trying to come back up her throat, she flipped out her phone and typed in a hasty text, hitting the send button.

TO: Yoko

'_Where R U?_'

A moment later her phone pinged, the reply popping up.

FROM: Yoko

'_Dorm. Waiting with Hina. Y?_'

TO: Yoko

'_Need to tell U 2 sumthin important. B there soon._'

Sakura walked back out of the office and headed for the teacher's lounge. She walked as casually as she could past the teachers, Kakashi only glancing up as she past. Once clear of the door, she walked faster to get through the cafeteria and forced herself not to run across the gym. She could feel it now, the panic rising inside her chest. It was suddenly unbearable; she could feel a scream clawing at her throat. By the time she felt as if her emotions would bubble over and render her a sobbing, shrieking, wreck, her hands slammed down onto the latch of the gyms back door.

The moment they swung open she jammed her hands into her pocket and walked casually across the across the stretch of crowded concrete, making her way to the girl's dormitory thirty yards away. She weaved in and out of the students, ignoring those who turned to stare at her. Sakura wore her usual bored expression, exuding utter calm as she watched her mind tear away from her and across the concrete, emitting a terrible wail that only she could hear all the while. Quickly, she slid the ID card around her neck through the reader next to the glass front door. She opened it swiftly, keeping her pace brisk as she passed through the recreation room that took up most of the first floor. She never paused once as she slid her card through another reader, passed through the door, and walked up the staircase, taking the steps two at a time.

Once on the fourth floor, she weaved through the packed hallways until she came to a door at the very end. This was the room that she, Hinata, and Yoko had chosen from the first year they had been roommates in the seventh grade. The door had been decorated with Hello Kitty, Spongebob, Pokemon, and Power Ranger stickers that they had collected over the years. Their names were drawn in colorful markers on a dry erase board in the middle, and other things were either carved, painted, or in some cases burned into the door. But none of this was taken in by the young teen's eyes as Sakura knocked quickly on the door. She heard movement on the other side, and moments later the door was opened by Hinata. She had her hair worn up in a high ponytail, her bangs falling haphazardly into her eyes. She had on a black fitted hello kitty shirt and a loose light blue jacket hung off her slim frame. A pair of Miss Me jeans touched the floor over her flip flops. Her soft bright eyes widened in shock as she looked down at her best friend.

"Are you ok Sakura-chan? You look awful!" She said taking Sakura by the arm and pulling her into the room. Inside the spacious room, four twin sized beds stood with their headboards against the wall. Three of them had already been made. The closest one was neat, with a simple white quilt and lavender pillows on it, a teddy bear sitting in its center. The one in the farthest right corner was unmade, exposing the neon pink covers and black neon splatter paint comforter, along with two other blankets between them. The last made bed had blood red sheets and a fluffy black duvet cover with a simple white square design along the bottom of it. Stretched on the bed was a slim figure, wearing a tank top, shorts, fuzzy pink socks, and a mask covering her whole face. Her black hair hung straight, falling over her shoulders and resting on the cover underneath. The young woman looked up from the book she was reading, and placed it down beside her. With inhuman grace, she glided across over to Sakura, and placed her slim arms around the girls neck.

"What's wrong _petit princesse_?" She asked sullenly. "Is it that important thing you wanted to tell us about?" Sakura paused, letting her head rest lightly in the crook of her other roommates neck. She shook her head.

"No." She said pulling away. "It wasn't very important anyway." The pinkette flopped down on her unmade bed in the corner, letting out a soft sigh.

"Tired?" Hinata asked from the chair at the desk beside her bed. Sakura put her arm over her eyes.

"Yeah, it's been a long day. I didn't think we were ever gonna get finished with passing out all those folders!" Sakura giggled. _It really has been a long day…_ Sakura thought to herself. _And __**he **__really doesn't help it all that much… _The mattress next to Sakura suddenly dipped down, and a warm body lay next to her. Turning her head slightly, Sakura looked over to see what looked like two pitch black eye sockets staring back at her. She blinked and stared back up at the ceiling dotted with glow in the dark stickers.

"You're a very terrible liar, Sakura-chan…" Yoko said boredly. With a sigh, Sakura sat up and stretched forward.

"Yeah, I know." She answered, a bit of defeat in her words. "But I still don't wanna tell you guys. Not yet, anyway." Hinata pushed herself over to them on her bright purple rolling chair.

"Not the right time?" She asked softly, head tilting to the side slightly. Sakura nodded, before noting the sad look in Hinata's eyes.

"I'll tell you guys later though, promise!" Sakura said quickly, not intending to upset her friend. Sakura stood up, jumping over Yoko and landing in a cat-like stance on the floor. She leaned forward to look Hinata in the eyes and smiled brightly. "I really will tell you guys what's wrong, so don't worry. I just gotta get a bit more info before I start telling secrets, ok?" She tried to ignore the small voice of doubt in the back of her head. She'd put it off until they forgot about the whole thing most likely.

Hinata looked up at her roommate, searching her face for something she really wasn't sure about. The Hyuuga smiled gently, deciding that Sakura meant what she said this time.

"So, what's for dinner?" Hinata asked, spinning around boredly. "School starts tomorrow and we need to celebrate our last night of freedom before we're stuck here in this hole for the next four months." Yoko laughed lightly.

"Why not have a girls' night? We can go to Zaza's?" She sang out the last part tantalizingly. Sakura jumped in excitement.

"OOH! Yeah! Let's go there for dinner! We can go see a movie too!" Hinata burst out laughing at her friend's reaction, which earned a quizzical look from Sakura who had returned to her seat on the floor.

"You're such a little kid sometimes Sakky-chan." Hinata said with a giggle. "So what movie should we see?"

"Ahh, we'll figure it out later. " Yoko said as she took out her cell phone laddened with straps*. "I'll tell Ino and Tenten to meet us over there in half an hour or so."

"Which means don't stay in the shower forever." Hinata added, poking Sakura on the side of her head. Sakura waved off her friend's hand.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." She said as she got back up and headed to the bathroom the girls shared. She plucked her shampoo and conditioner off of the long sink counter and snagged a few towels.

"I'll try not to take long." Sakura said as she headed out the door, throwing a small wave over her shoulder. Her roommates answered back absentmindedly as they set about getting themselves ready to go. Sakura watched her feet carry her down the hallway to the dormitory bathrooms and thought quietly to herself. She wasn't sure why she had decided against not telling her roommates, it had just happened the moment she was able to tell them. Sakura shrugged the matter off and opened the door into the bathroom where a group of freshmen were excitedly chattering away. She ignored their lapse of silence as she walked by, knowing they were no doubt shocked at her out of place hair color, and didn't even pay attention to their whispers as she quickly got into a shower stall; her mind was already miles away, debating whether it was really a good idea to promise Hinata she would tell her this secret.

Sakura hurried along behind her roommates as they quickly walked down the sidewalks of Konoha. She barely listened to the two complaining about how they were all late for their get together because Sakura had taken too long in the shower. Again. Sakura's lips twitched in annoyance; she wasn't angry at her friend's, although they were getting slightly annoying. She was more irritated at herself for letting her thoughts slip away and causing her to lose track of time. She reached up for what seemed like the hundredth time since they left to attempt to fix her damp hair. A small scowl crossed her face as the unruly mess refused to stay spiked.

"Your hair isn't gonna stay up ya know?" Yoko said lightly, once again stopping to let the much shorter girl catch up. "So stop messing with it." Sakura stuck out her tongue.

"Mm, I can still try." All three laughed lightly for a bit and then walked in silence for a few more feet until they heard a familiar voice shout.

"OI! It's about time you three showed up!" The girls looked ahead to see a pretty blonde haired girl leaning against a brick wall. She had replaced the white skirt with her favorite pair of Miss Me jeans and wore a white short sleeved jacket over her shirt. Beside her stood another girl with tan skin and brown hair pulled up into two messy buns. She wore a loose MCR* concert shirt and an old pair of worn out, paint splattered jeans that barely concealed her black converse.

"What kept you?" the other girl asked, pushing herself off the wall. Silently, Sakura raised her hand as her two roommates pointed back at her. The brunette laughed and slung her arm around Sakura's neck. "Why am I not surprised it was you Shorty? What happened? You forget to get out of the shower again?" Sakura elbowed the brunette lightly.

"Ah shaddup Ten," she said giving her a hug. After a few moments she said in a miffed tone: "And maybe I did…" The group of friends burst out laughing and entered their favorite restaurant in a burst of giggles. Sakura wrapped her arms around her best friends, trying to push off the sinking feeling inside that made her dread the inevitable truth that lurked in the dark corners. With a determined shake of her head, she forced all thoughts of the dark haired boy from her mind. She wouldn't let Uchiha Sasuke mess with her head any longer. So he was coming back to Konoha after three years, big deal. Sakura had decided long ago that the Uchiha boy wasn't worth her time…

But that didn't mean she couldn't give him Hell.

A/N: ok, so. It's not the best, especially the end. I'm not too proud of it, but I guess it'll do for now. I hope you guys liked the rewrite chapter! Hopefully I'll get around to updating regularly (I hope I can get off my lazy ass to do it anyway :/) Sorry if the grammar sucks, I don't really pay much attention in English class =,= anyway!

Chow my dears!

*In case a few of you don't know what they are, straps are basically Japanese phone charms. It's really popular to load a ton of them onto your phone and there's a BUNCH of adorable phone straps out there. oh, and MCR stands for My Chemical Romance. It's a pretty awesome band.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok! So here we go again! It's the second chapter of the rewrite, and hopefully it'll be around the same length as the last one! I want to make each chapter pretty long, instead of only a few pages in Microsoft Word ((btw, the last chappy was 11 pages :O)) So, hopefully my unbearable boredom can get me through this chapter. Hope you like it.**

_April 1__st_

_Sakura's…Journal…Thing_

_Entry #1_

_ Alright book, here we go! You are a back to school gift from my Aunt that she gave me last year. And I've just never used you until now. Hinata and Yoko were always telling me to write stuff down in you so I could vent about things and "record my high school life" and junk. But journals go entirely against my views on privacy since it's very easy for you to get jacked and what not, then, everyone will know my deepest, darkest secrets and such. But, it's 3 a.m. and I'm bored as FUCCCCCK. So then I guess I'll just use you to keep me company. Hmm, where to start… _

_ After we got to Zaza's (which is THE BEST place to eat in town mind you) we just sorta celebrated and talked about how awesome sophomore year was going to be. I still haven't told anyone about my little discovery earlier today. I would have told Hinata and Yoko during dinner, but not with Ino or Tenten around. It's not that I don't trust them with this kind of inf- ok yeah, I REALLY don't trust Ino with that kind of information. I wouldn't mind telling Ino, I really trust the girl, except she'd freak out and everyone would probably know by tomorrow. I don't think Tsunade would appreciate all the students knowing this, especially since the folders were confidential. Tenten i probably would have told too if Ino wasn't there, but she'd let it slip to Neji and Lee eventually and then Lee would spread it around too. So, I'll just wait for a good time to tell Hinata and Yoko. I might give it a few more weeks so they don't get distracted from school and stuff. _

_ So anyway, back to focus. We almost missed curfew on our way back to campus, but we barely made it. We hung out in the rec room til around one in the morning before we started kicking all the excited freshies to their rooms. Haha, I wish I coulda recorded that! Some of the richer freshies tried to say no and that we weren't the bosses of them and that we didn't run the school. I quickly showed them who was boss. ^^ Hopefully, those girls won't cause too much trouble with us in the future. Damn freshies. =.= (they're apparently keeping the second floor awake according by the text I just got from Mikami. We'll have to start enforcing the rules tomorrow.)_

_But, things finally calmed down a bit after 1 a.m. so we all came back up for bed. Ino's crashed out on the sofa downstairs and Tenten didn't want to drag her sleeping ass all the way back upstairs. Hopefully, their roommate Temari (who Ino dislikes with a burning passion for some reason) doesn't decide to draw on her. Don't get me wrong, Temari is a great person and it would be funny as hell to see Ino covered in Sharpie tomorrow, but it's a pain to have to listen to them argue over it… _

_Yoko and Hinata fell asleep rather quickly when we got to our room, and so I've been starring at the glow-in-the-dark dino stickers plastered all across our ceiling for the past two hours. And that brings us up to date now. Tomorrow is the first day of school. Oh, wait. TODAY is the first day of school starting in four and a half hours. I need to try and get a bit of rest at least and you're kinda failing in your mission to entertain me, so night!_

_ ~S_

_April 1__st_

_Sak's Journal-or-Whatever_

_Entry #2_

_ Okay, so it's 5:48 and I'm bored again. The cafeteria doesn't open until 6 so I'm trying to pass the time without waking the girls up. So, I've have decided to write down my schedule. Hopefully, this can pass the rest of the time. Here it is:_

1st period: 8:05 – 8:58

World History

Kurenai

2nd period: 9:02 – 9:50

Art Appreciation

Jiraiya

3rd period: 9:54 – 10:42

English

Kakashi

4th period: 10:46 – 11:34

Algebra 2

Anko

11:34 – 11:59

Lunch

5th period: 12:03 – 12:51

Systematic Theology

Asuma

6th period: 12:55 – 1:43

Drama

Sasori

7th period: 1:47 – 2:35

Chemistry

Gai

8th period: 2:39 – 3:30

Show Choir/Study Hall

Mrs. Bradley

_Bradley-sensei and Sasori-sensei are both new teachers that started last year. They're very good teachers too! I didn't specify this, but on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday I have Show Choir, and on Wednesday and Friday I have study hall with Kakashi. Saturdays are just the extracurriculars like P.E. and more drama and art classes, which is great. _

_Apparently, I have 5 classes with Naruto this year. It's not that bad except he's in my first period…=,= Ah well, I'll get used to it. It's about 6 now, so I think I'll headto the showers and then get some breakfast, I'm starving! ;) Chow._

_ ~S_

Sakura closed the little book wrapped in holographic material and set it beside her on the bed side table. Without making a sound, she slipped out of her bed and onto the floor. She groped under her bed until she found her black canvas Toms and slipped them on. She grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, her Black Veil Brides t-shirt, along with a few other necessities and quietly tiptoed out of the room, grabbing her ID and keycard on the way. Sakura cast one last look at the sleeping forms of her roommates before closing the door and heading to the bathrooms.

The hallways were empty except for the few other early birds who shuffled to the bathroom, hair jutting out in various positions. Sakura stepped into the bathroom, listening to the sleepy voices call to each other as she washed herself in the shower. She stood there letting the water warm her skin a little longer than she intended before finally turning off the water and stepping out. She toweled her hair dry as she walked across to where her clothes sat out of the way, safe and dry. She quickly dried herself off and changed into her clothes, wrapping her hair tightly with the towel. Sakura looked up and saw a few of the new freshmen staring at her.

"What?" She yawned. "If you keep looking at my hair that way, I'm gonna jam your heads in a toilet. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it…" One of the girls looked slightly annoyed.

"It's not just that ya know. You're not wearing a uniform?" She said haughtily, indicating her own black skirt and short sleeved sailor shirt uniform. Sakura stretched leisurely.

"The school doesn't enforce the uniform rule on the first day back. I can wear whatever I want today. Are you done bothering me now?" She scratched the back of her head, removing the towel and throwing it over her shoulders. The two freshmen sniffed haughtily and walked passed her, bumping her shoulders slightly as they walked out. Sakura just rolled her eyes. _Damn freshies… _she growled to herself. _**Acting like they own the damn place. They better watch how they speak to their superiors… **_her inner shook her fist in the two girls direction. With a sigh, Sakura checked her tired face in the mirror before heading downstairs and outside of the dorms.

Sakura stretched again, inhaling the crisp morning air, feeling more awake now. She walked lightly towards the cafeteria, following the few students heading in the same direction. Pulling out her iPod, Sakura jammed her headphones in and turned the volume up full blast, zoning out and adding a slight dance to her step. A little bit away from the cafeteria, Sakura spotted a familiar brown haired boy, leaning up against a tree and smoking a cigarette in his pajamas.

"Yo, Shika, I thought you weren't supposed to be doing that on campus?" She asked as she drew closer, pulling out a headphone. Shikamaru shrugged.

"What the teachers don't know can't hurt them, right?" He drawled out sleepily. "Besides, it wakes me up." Sakura snorted.

"Riiight…" She waved towards the cafeteria. "Care to join me for breakfast?" she asked casually. Shikamaru sighed and dropped the cigarette, putting it out with his combat boots.

"You won't leave me alone otherwise, right?" Sakura giggled.

"Nope!" She half dragged the lazy genius into the building and took their place in line, chattering on about how excited she was for school to start. She knew Shikamaru wasn't really paying attention, but she had to keep him awake somehow. Once through the line, she scanned the cafeteria for their usual table. A sudden, loud voice cut over the already small crowd.

"Oi, Shorty!" A blonde haired boy shouted, waving his arms from atop a chair. He was wearing pajama pants, a black tank, and his ever present orange jacket. Sakura laughed and walked over to the table where a few other boys were sitting.

"Get down Naruto," She playfully scolded, easily yanking the blonde off his chair. Sakura noted the boy was barefoot.

"Hey, it was the only way to find you, Shorty." He said, giving her a light shove. "Even though we can see your hair from a mile away."

"Mmhm..." Sakura muttered, rolling her eyes at Naruto's foxish grin. She forced her tray down between the red head sitting next to a mop of black hair.

"Hey Sakura-chan." The black hair said as she sat down. "Ready for school?" Sakura looked over at the white smile flashing behind the curtain of hair.

"Morning Lee," She said, nonchalantly swatting the hand of her red headed neighbor away from her Lucky Charms. "And no, not really."

"Aww, not looking forward to first period English?" Kiba asked from across the table, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Third period Kibble." Sakura stuck out her tongue as the Inuzuka boy's mouth fell open.

"Lucky!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah right! Kakashi is always late first period so at least you can sleep in!" Shikamaru's tired voice sounded angrily from Lee's other side.

"Aw, does poor Shika not get to sleep?" Naruto teased the brown haired boy who was sitting facedown.

"Shut up, moron…" Shikamaru grumbled, looking up just long enough to glare at the energetic blonde. Sakura laughed along with the others, only to stop abruptly and slap the hand that was once more reaching for her dry cereal. A loud _slap_ caused the others to fall silent and stare apprehensively at Sakura and the red head beside her.

"Dammit, Gaara! Quit stealing my food without permission!" She glared into the pale blue green, black rimmed eyes of the boy next to her. The others held their breath as they watched the silent glares pass back and forth. Finally, Gaara slouched in deafeat, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine." He said bluntly. Sakura continued to study Gaara for a few more minutes as everyone went back to the previous conversation. Gaara had transferred to Konoha High Boarding School the semester before and had only been in two of Sakura's classes. He had been unapproachable to most of the school's student body and the teachers generally left him alone due to his frightening appearance. By the end of the school year, Sakura had finally managed to befriend Gaara and talk him into eating with their group at meals. The others had been a little worried at first, but now they didn't seem to mind him for the most part, unless something happened that could possibly set him off.

A small smile tugged at Sakura's lips. Gaara really wasn't as mean as he looked, or as the other kids said he was. In truth, Gaara just needed a few friends who would understand the bad history he had that made him all dark and moody. Sakura knew that underneath the bad boy, 'I'm-gonna-kick-your-ass' stare, that gaara was really just a teddy bear who wanted a hug. With a grin, she pushed over her bowl of cereal, taking pity on his sulking face.

"Ok, NOW you have permission to steal my food." She said, tossing a few marshmallows at his head. A small, twisted smile (the one that seemed to scare every other student except her) passed over Gaara's face and he ate in silence.

"SO. Who all has History first period again?" Sakura asked, jumping back into the conversation. "ME!" Naruto yelled excitedly. Quietly, Lee raised his fist, to which Sakura quickly connected hers.

"Chouji and I have it too." Shikamaru yawned into the table. "Same with Ino…"

"And Gaara, Yoyo, and Hina make seven." Sakura said with a decisive nod.

"Where is Hinata-chan and Yoko anyway?" Naruto asked, looking around for the two absent girls.

"They were still asleep when I left the dorm. Which reminds me; Why are you up so early Naruto?" Sakura asked, genuinely surprised to find Naruto up at this ungodly hour. Naruto shrugged.

"Couldn't go back to sleep." He said. "Plus, I got hungry, so I decided to get up."

"Impressive…" Sakura murmered.

"Hey, Hinata and Yoko are here…" Kiba announced boredly, tossing a strip of bacon to Akamaru. Sakura looked over to the direction of the cafeteria entrance, and sure enough saw her two roommates walking in. Hinata was already wearing her school uniform, looking around nervously at the other students who turned to stare. Sakura grinned; she knew where all the other students were staring. Standing next to her, with her favorite chibi mask placed delicately over her face, was Yoko. She was still wearing her pajama shorts and tank top, hair up in a messy side ponytail, socks still on her feet, and a book tucked under her arm. Her creamy skin was flawless, and there were even the signs of small muscles present on her arms and legs. It went without saying that Yoko was extremely beautiful, and didn't mind showing it off in front of others. Within minutes, Hinata and Yoko had gone through the breakfast line and had joined the others at their table. Yoko flopped down gracefully between Kiba and Naruto.

"You two look happy to see me this morning it seems." She teased lightly, opening up her book. Naruto flicked a bit of cereal at her.

"Well if you insist on wearing outfits like that every morning, of course we'll be happy to see you." Sakura scrunched up her nose.

"Hey, it's too early for being dirty you two." She said, earning a few agreeing nods from the others. Lee laughed and slung his arm aound Sakura's neck.

"Ah, but it's the playfulness of youth, Sakura-chan!" He said brightly.

"I thought you were done with all that youth stuff, Lee?" Sakura groaned. Lee laughed loudly in response.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan, can't stand the power of youth?"

"Hm."

Soon enough, the group was joined by Neji, Tenten, Temari, Kankuro, Chouji, Ino, Shino, and Sai. By now, the cafeteria was packed with students, each seeming to yell at the top of their lungs. Yoko looked up from her book to check the time on her phone.

"Hey, guys," She said. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but class starts in 5 minutes." The others sighed and began getting up.

"But, I'm not done eating ye-," Sakura turned to glare at Gaara. "…Never mind…" Gaara shrugged in reply.

"I was hungry, ok?" Sakura just rolled her eyes, flicking the now empty Styrofoam bowl at her friend and got up to put away her tray. Once back at the table, she slung her bag over her shoulder, then linked arms with Gaara and Lee as they headed towards the classrooms, Yoko dragging Shikamaru and Naruto along behind them.

"To History!" Lee said energetically. A resounding groan replied as his grin widened.

_April 1__st_

_Sakky's Journal_

_Entry #3_

_ Well now! Aren't you becoming quite addicting? :/ Okay, so it's only been a few hours since I wrote in you last, but I'm bored! This has been the day so far:_

_1__st__ period: _

_ So we all arrived in our homeroom with seconds to spare. Once the bell rang, Kurenai sensei put us all against the wall and then gave us assigned seats. Not many of us were happy about that. Luckily though, I was between Gaara and Ino, but sadly Chouji was on the other side of the room so we couldn't share morning snacks anymore. Anyway, I could really tell Gaara didn't like being stuck in the front seat of our row, since we were placed in a pack of snobby girls who kept staring at him. He spent the rest of class slouched halfway down his seat with his hood up. The rest of the class was just Kurenai laying down the ground rules and telling us what we'd be learning for the first semester. _

_2__nd__ period:_

_ So, off I went to Art class with Gaara (who wasn't too thrilled since his older sibs were in it too). Happily, Sai, my favorite art buddy, was in my class too. He had already chosen an easel and was sitting at it setting up his art supplies. He looked up as I walked over with Gaara and he gave that signature smile that was obviously oh so fake._

'_Hello ugly.' He said brightly as I sat down at the easel next to him._

'_Hi fatty.' I told him just as brightly, opening up my back pack. You see, Sai transferred in to KHBS a few years ago. I actually used to hate his guts back then too. But that was when I didn't realize that he was a sociopath trying to make new friends in a strange school. He had always been homeschooled by his dad, Danzo, and rarely interacted with people. After Naruto and I had found this little detail out, I had tried to be his friend. It wasn't easy at first, because he always called me ugly. When I finally confronted him about it, I almost died laughing. He told me the reason behind the awful names, was because he read in a book how people used nicknames for their friends and that girls in particular liked to be told they looked the opposite of what they really looked like. When it sunk in, I cracked up. It took me longer to calm down after I remembered that his nickname for Ino was "Miss Beautiful"._

_ After my laughing fit had worn off, I apologized to Sai for always being so mean to him over the names and I asked what he really thought about my looks. I was actually pretty surprised when he said he thought I was cute and that I had a pretty unique sense of style. And ever since then, he and I have been friends. It's pretty awesome having someone who can't feel any kind of emotions as a friend. He doesn't get weirded out at all, and is very open to doing things like going shopping with me._

_And I promise you, he is straight. _

_ Anywayyy, Jiraiya sensei finally showed up after the bell rang, and he gave us the few ground rules he actually had. Jiraiya (though he is a MEGA perverted/pedoish old man) is one of my favorite teachers. He's pretty relaxed in art classes. He lets us use our iPods during class because it helps the "creativity flow". We can talk as much as we want as long as we get our work done, and he doesn't expect us all to be artists. He himself isn't the best artist, although, he is pretty decent at drawing. He usually spends most of his time writing, and unfortunately uses his classes as test subjects on what he writes. We don't generally like doing this, because even though he's the author of a bestselling series….it's an "adult" (porn) novel… But, other than that, he's an ok guy. The only thing we had to do was make a quick sketch of whatever we felt like drawing, using whatever we wanted. I really hadn't been paying much attention to what I was drawing and ended up drawing a bunch of eyes on my paper. They were the same pair of onyx eyes that seemed to see too much and were always brooding. I was about to rip the page apart when I realized it was his eyes I had been drawing over and over for the past forty five minutes when Jiraiya sensei picked it up, adding it to the pile in his arms. He complimented me on my drawing skills and then moved on to pick up Gaara's stick figure pictures of him repeatedly murdering his siblings, who just so happened to be sitting right next to him the whole time. The bell rang just then, so I went on to 3__rd__ period English, one of the few classes I had with almost all of my friends. So here I am, sitting around in third period blaring Escape the Fate out of my earphones, talking to Naruto, Gaara, and Temari, waiting for Kakashi to show up. It's 10:30 and still no- oh, wait, there's Kakashi. I better go, he won't like it if I'm not paying attention._

_ ~S_

Sakura put down her pencil and shut the small journal in front of her, placing it underneath her stack of books and pulling out her headphones. Several other students were doing the same as their English teacher walked up to his desk in the front, his signature orange book in front of his face. With a slight _snap, _Kakashi closed his book and placed it on the table, staring at his students.

"Sorry I'm late everyone, I got lost getting to my classroom."

Sakura groaned along with the others at their teacher's lame excuse. Kakashi waited for the class to quiet down. After a few moments of silence, he tilted his head.

"What is that?" he asked nonchalantly. Sakura listened intently to the silence; her face deadpanned when she heard the sound of screaming and heavy guitar playing coming from her pocket. She reached into the pocket of her skinny's and felt her iPod. She pulled it out and turned it off, looking up at Kakashi sensei as he stood in front of her, his hand outstretched patiently.

"You listen to very strange music." He said simply as she placed the music player in his hand regretfully. Without missing a beat, Sakura replied:

"And you read porn." She scowled, sitting back in her seat with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. The classroom erupted into loud snickers and suppressed giggles, as a spark of laughter flashed in Kakashi eyes.

"That may very well be, Miss Sakura," He said, turning back to his desk. "But at least books are allowed." Sakura just huffed and went about messing with one of the chains on her pants. Kakashi began writing on the blackboard.

"Now, your first assignment of the year is to write a one page essay or a short poem on whatever you want, due tomorrow." A few of the students groaned.

"Would you prefer it to be longer?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. The class shook their heads, grumbling as they sunk deeper into their chairs. Sakura was one of the few who didn't grumble and groan. English was one of the classes she really enjoyed and was really good at. She could already feel the wheels grinding out what she was going to write about as Kakashi explained the class rules and what he expected of his students this semester. The bell finally rang, and Sakura went down the hallway to her locker, ignoring the loud shouts from the freshmen class. She quickly spun the lock to the right combination, swinging open her locker door just in time to backhand a kid in the side of the face with it. Sakura jerked back and went to examine the poor kid sprawled out on the ground.

"Oh my God, are you ok?" She asked, as the young boy sat up. He had on a black coat over his faded jeans and a pair of circular glasses over his face. A pair of green goggles that were very familiar to her sat on top of the boys brown hair. Sakura guessed he was a freshmen. The boy fixed his lopsided glasses and looked up at her blearily. Sakura suppressed the urge to glare as his eyes widened at her appearance. He nodded his head blankly, his eyes never leaving the bright mess of hair on her head. Sakura stood, about to help the boy up when a shout distracted her.

"Oi! Leave Udon alone you weirdo!"

Sakura's eyes snapped up to the direction of the voice. The boy who had yelled at her froze in fear, not expecting to receive the look Sakura was sending his way. A young girl with bright orange hair stood behind the new boy, fidgeting nervously under the older girl's gaze. The boy suddenly snapped out of his frozen state, pointing a finger at Sakura.

"You!" He said angrily, and, to Sakura's dismay, loudly. A few people stopped to stare at the scene, making Sakura's skin crawl a little; she hated when people watched her when someone confronted her like this. The wide eyed stares were unnerving.

"I saw you slam your locker door into my friend's face!" The boy went on, ignoring the stares he was getting. "There's no way I can let some no good, freaky looking bully hurt my friends and get away with it!" A small smirk appeared on the boys childish face as a few of the freshmen cheered. Sakura scowled. She hated freshmen, especially this one. He was some kid who had taken to Naruto a few years back. Sakura only met him once and it was obvious he hadn't changed since; he was rude back then too.

"Look, Konohamaru." She growled slightly. The boy froze again at this.

"You know my name?" He asked in surprise, before a wide smirk plastered his face. "Of course you know me. No doubt you've heard of my terrifying abilities from the rest of the school. I'm the toughest freshmen around! And nobody, especially some creepy weirdo, can take me on!"

"You're about to be fresh meat if you don't shut the fuck up you little brat!" Sakura spat out, causing both Konohamaru and the girl to back away in fear. Sakura felt a small twinge of satisfaction as she saw the freshmen cowering at her outburst while the older grades just snickered at their terrified faces. They were completely used to Sakura's random changes in temperament. A small smirk came across her face.

"Now, that's better." She said, turning to Udon, who was cowering on the floor. Sakura gave him a warm smile and held out her hand to him.

"I'm really sorry that I hit you with the locker door, I didn't see you standing there. I hope you're okay." She said sweetly. She couldn't suppress the small giggle at the look of confusion on Udon's face.

"I'm not really as scary as I look, ya know?" She said as he tentatively took her hand. She pulled him up easily, examining the side of his face that was already beginning to bruise slightly.

"You'll probably want to go have Shizune-san take a look at that." She said, turning back to her locker. She suddenly realized that the hallway was dead quiet, and looked around at the other students (mostly freshies) staring at her. She let herself adopt an annoyed look.

"Well?" She snapped, putting her hands on her hips. Most of the freshmen scurried away, whispering to each other, and the rest of the student body went back to whatever it was they had been talking about. Gaara was leaning up against the lockers when Sakura turned back around.

"What?"

"I swear to God I thought you were about to eat that kid." Gaara said in a casual tone, or as casual as his deadpan could sound. Sakura rolled her eyes as Yoko and Hinata giggled, returning to pulling out her books for the next class. A few moments later, she felt someone staring at her back. Looking around, she found the orange haired girl standing a few feet away, glancing around nervously.

"What do you want?" Gaara's deep voice seemed to frighten her, causing her to tremble. She began to stutter even worse than Hinata used to.

"W-well, i-i-iwas w-wonder-ring i-if-"

"If I was who you think I am?" Sakura finished the poor girl's question with a nod. "Yes, Moegi, it's me." A look of surprise lit up Moegi's face.

"Is that really you Sakura!" she exclaimed. Konohamaru heard her and came up to stare scrutinizingly at Sakura.

"Woah!" His mouth fell open stupidly as he realized it was, indeed, the pink haired girl with whom his boss was best friends with for some odd reason. Konohamaru grinned. "I knew it was you! Only you would be flat enough to be mistaken as a tranny with that pink hair of yours!"

_Tranny?_ **–silence-** Gaara, Yoko, and Hinata all bit their tongues. Sakura felt a vein in her eye twitch. She really hated this kid. Resisting the urge to punch him, Sakura flashed her sweetest, brightest smile, allowing her nose to crinkle up slightly.

"Haha, still as funny as ever, neh, Konohamaru-kun?" She asked in her sickeningly childlike voice. Irritation spiked through her as she noted how it seemed to not affect the annoying brown haired brat in front of her, who just puffed up his chest at her "compliment".

"Why thank you, Miss Tranny!" Konohamaru said smugly. Moegi bashed him on the back of his head.

"Dumbass! Learn a little respect!" She shouted as he whined and rubbed his head. Sakura took it back. She liked freshmen. They were actually pretty co- "just cuz she looks like a boy doesn't mean you have to remind her!"

Yep, she still hated freshmen. Konohamaru crossed his arms.

"Eh, whatever!" He said as he turned and walked away. The three freshmen bickered amongst themselves all the way around the corner, all the while oblivious to Sakura's outstretched arms, reaching with hooked fingers at their backs, attempting to strangle the three brats who were ruining her day. With a growl, she slung her backpack over her shoulder, slammed her locker door shut, and stalked off to Algebra 2, her three friends beside her.

"So, do you think Anko sensei is gonna make us do anything today, Miss Tranny?" Gaara asked the fuming pinkette.

Sakura shoved the grinning red head into a locker.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hooray, chapter 3! And it's in our favorite chicken haired, emo-child's point of view too! If you've read this far, I would like to take this limited space and thank you ALL for sticking with me and my whacked up story! Hmm, also, I don't think I've done this yet!**

**DISCLAIMER TIMMMMMMME!:**

**Cherry-chan does not own Naruto, Kishi-sensei does if I did, Sakura wouldn't be a cry baby, and Sasuke wouldn't be such a dick! ^^**

**Sasuke: Oi!**

**Naruto: it's true tho!**

**Sasuke: -_- **

**Cherry: hush you two! Anyway, enjoy the next chappy!**

Uchiha Sasuke was not happy.

Most things never bothered the raven haired boy, and those few things that did, were easily ignored. So naturally, it took a lot to make Sasuke angry, which he definitely was at the moment. He stalked down the hallway of the large house he shared with his "family", allowing irritation to emanate from him like a dark aura. He had been going to the study, intent on asking Orochimaru to (once again) tell Karin to stay out of his room. Once he had gotten there, however, he was stopped at the door by the sound of Orochimaru and their butler Kabuto talking in serious tones. Curious, he had listened in to the conversation. Sasuke scowled at his feet as he traced the familiar path back to his room, the conversation still ringing in his head.

"_Are you absolutely sure about this, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto was asking in that creepy, light voice of his. There was a small pause, and Sasuke assumed Orochimaru was nodding._

"_Yes, I'm sure," came his delicate reply, a soft _hiss _accompanying the end of the 'yes'. "Tsunade's offer was quite…unexpected, but a welcome offer nonetheless. The change of scenery would be good for the children; I've become quite bored with the scenery myself."_

"_But to go back _there…!" _Kabuto said, an incredulous tone replacing his usual formality. Sasuke cocked his head in interest. So they were moving from Oto? When? And more importantly, to where? Kabuto made it sound like such a bad place to go to. _Anywhere is better than here…_ Sasuke thought to himself. Otogakure was one of the worst places to live in; it almost rivaled the living conditions in Kirigakure off the coast of Japan. Sasuke doubted they were going there; not even Orochimaru would live in that place. His attention snapped back to reality as he heard the conversation continuing. _

"…_might not agree to go." Kabuto was saying. Sasuke pondered this "siblings" would definitely have something to say about this move. Karin was probably the one most likely to disagree on leaving Oto. She would make a scene about it, not wanting to give up the popularity she held at their school. Suigetsu would probably be fine with it, but he'd complain about it just to annoy everyone, and as for Juugo, he probably wouldn't care. _

"_Sasuke will just have to deal with it." Orochimaru said, a slight frost in his voice. Sasuke perked up slightly. Why would he have any reason to object to going? He tried to think of any reasons he'd have to not want to leave Oto and came up blank. Truth be told, he hated Oto and would be more than happy to leave this shitty place they called a town. Sasuke shook his head slightly and returned his attention to the conversation._

"_I don't know _why_ you're so adamant about leaving, Kabuto." Orochimaru sighed. "It's not like it will be the end of our lives. Tsunade has even offered to give you a job at the school as well."_

_Sasuke paused. Where had he heard that name before? It hadn't remembered it when Orochimaru first said it, but now, the name struck a familiar chord in his memory. Sasuke thought as hard as he could but couldn't remember who the person was. He just remembered that whoever it was, was associated with something he hated, that he didn't want to remember. _

"_I know, Orochimaru-sama, but…" Kabuto trailed off._

"_But?" The soft question added a slightly dangerous lilt to the man's voice._

"_I'm just surprised that you accepted the offer."_

"_Why shouldn't I? I have no problem with going back. As a matter of fact, this offer was perfect timing. I've wanted to return home for quite a while now." Sasuke tilted his head. Orochimaru wanted to move to go back home? Where was that again?_

_And then it hit Sasuke. The place he didn't want to remember. _

_Konoha._

Sasuke scowled at the name. Upon his revelation, he had burst into the office, about ready to strangle his adoptive father. He had made up his mind when he left Konoha that he hated it and refused to go back there, and two years hadn't weakened that resolve. His scowl deepened. Orochimaru was dead set on returning to Konoha, and had simply told Sasuke he'd have to deal with it. And now Sasuke had only half a year left before they were leaving.

He was definitely not happy.

Sasuke rubbed his temples, trying to get rid of the headache that was beginning to throb. Breathing in through his nose, he tried to push his frustration away. He had to calm down quickly, before anyone else in the house saw him angry, especially befo-

"Sasuke-kun!" Sasuke inwardly cringed and the high pitched voice nearly shrieking his name. With a soft growl, he turned to glare at the red headed girl running towards him with a worried pout on her face.

"What do you want Karin?" He growled. Karin stopped in front of him, shoving her black glasses back up her nose. She stared up at him with wide eyes.

"I heard you were upset, Sasuke-kun, so I came to see what was wrong." She stepped closer, adopting a slight purr. "And to see if you needed anyone to talk to…" Sasuke scowled.

"It's none of your concern what's bothering me. Now quit acting like a slut and go away. Bother Suigetsu or something." With that, Sasuke turned and stalked back to his room, leaving a very shocked and teary eyed Karin in the middle of the hallway.

"Well damn," Came a voice behind Karin as Sasuke's door closed loudly. "What's up with him?" Karin turned and gave an annoyed glare at the white haired boy leaning against the doorframe to his room, wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a black shirt sporting some band.

"Shut up Suigetsu." Karin said snottily. "It's none of your concern why he's mad. Leave him alone and go away." Suigetsu smirked.

"News flash sunshine; he said that to you too."

"Whatever. Sasuke will tell me what's wrong when he feels like it." Suigetsu snorted.

"That'll be the day…" he muttered, rolling his eyes at the red head. He pushed himself off the door frame and sauntered back into his room. "Just keep telling yourself that, Honey." Karin huffed and crossed her arms. Her so called "brother" really got under her skin sometimes.

"I wonder what could be bothering him….?" A soft voice asked curiously. Karin turned to see Juugo peeking out of his own room, his bright orange hair falling across his equally orange eyes. Karin pressed her mouth together into a thin line. She was wondering the same thing, but thought better than to press the matter with Sasuke. She shrugged boredly.

"Just don't worry about it, Juugo." Karin stated, walking back to her room across the hall. "I'm sure we'll find out eventually…" The door clicked shut softly. Juugo glanced one more time down the hallway to the closed door that belonged to Sasuke's room, before retreating back into his own. He nodded slightly to himself, trusting in Karin's judgment of the situation. Surely they'd find out soon enough, all they had to do was wait.

oooooOOOOOOOooooo

"_WHAT!"_ Karin shrieked loudly, jumping up from her seat and staring in shock at her foster father. "What do you mean we're moving!" Suigetsu grumbled, rubbing his ear and glaring at Karin from his seat across the table. Juugo quietly watched Sasuke as he sulked quietly in his chair next to Karin, casting an annoyed, but surprisingly approving glare at her outburst. Juugo continued picking at his food, processing the news. _Konoha doesn't sound too bad, _Juugo thought absentmindedly. _In fact, it'll be much better than here. Besides,_

_What's the worst that could happen?_

**Sorry it's such a short chapter this time. I couldn't really think of any way to make this longer without it seeming to ramble!**

**Anyway, please read and review or I'll sick Juugo on you! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I felt really bad about a short chapter, so I did two updates in one day. Hope you like it!**

Sakura sighed loudly, rolling over and sprawling herself out on her bed. Hinata looked up from her desk, staring curiously at her roommate, homework momentarily forgotten. Yoko kept scribbling on her paper, hell bent on finishing her Calculus homework. It had only been a few weeks since school started and her roommate was already tired of homework. She pulled her pillow out from under her and threw it aimlessly in Sakura's direction.

"Don't start," she said. "Some of us would like to have completed homework to turn in tomorrow you know?" Sakura let out a loud groan.

"But it's sooo boringgg around here!" She whined. "Can't we go do something fun?"

"Maybe when we're done?" Hinata offered, turning back to her English report.

"Fine" Sakura huffed. "I can wait a little longer I guess. Want me to tell Ten and Pig to get ready or something?"

"Be our guest." Yoko said, closing the math book and stretching before pulling a Chemistry book towards her. Why did all the teachers here have to assign so much homework? The room lapsed back into silence, save for the sound of Sakura's phone sending messages every few minutes. Hinata finally put down her pencil, satisfied with her short essay for health. Glancing at her alarm clock near the edge of the desk, she saw it was nearly 6 o' clock. She stood up and stretched her back, sore from being bent over for nearly three hours. She blushed as a loud growl sounded throughout the room. Both roommates looked up wide eyed.

"Was that your stomach?" Sakura asked, mouth open slightly.

"Y-yes…" Hinata nodded, slightly embarrassed. Sakura clapped, causing Hinata to blush further. Yoko sat up on her bed, trying not to laugh.

"Well, I guess that's incentive enough to go eat. Are Tenten and Ino ready?" She asked, looking to Sakura. After a few moments of quick texting, said pinkette looked up.

"They said give them a five minutes." She said brightly, hopping off her messy bed and hurrying towards the bathroom. Ten minutes later, the five girls were hurrying across the courtyard the separated the girls' and boys' dorms towards the front of the school. They chattered and joked aimlessly until they reached the office, filing into the room and gathering around Shizune's front desk. The chocolate haired woman looked up, smiling at the group of girls.

"Going out ladies?" She asked, pushing a clip board towards them.

"Yup!" They all chimed together, each signing her name on the piece of paper before handing it back.

"Have fun then! And be back before curfew!" She called as they all filed back outside the door.

"We will!" Hinata called reassuringly of her shoulder as she followed the small group, giving a small wave to the young secretary as she left. Shizune smiled and shook her head, getting back to work. It still amazed her how all five girls had become friends in the first place, given how different they all were from each other.

There was Tenten, the school's best female athlete and fourth loudest student; sweet, quiet Hinata who hardly spoke to anyone; the mysterious and aloof Yoko, who always hid her face behind a mask; Ino, the fashionista and one of the most popular girls in school; and finally, little Sakura, with her bright hair, dark clothes, and hot headed attitude. They were such a rag tag team of friends, it was almost impossible to believe they were all really friends. But the way they giggled and shoved against each other was evidence enough. Shizune smiled again. Maybe this school year would be peaceful enough after all.

oooooOOOOOooooo

The five high school girls lounged around a table outside their favorite restaurant, enjoying the still warm evening. Two salad bowls sat empty on the table, big enough to feed several people each. Sakura sat quietly with her legs up in her chair, staring up at the dark sky.

"I think we should throw a party." She said, tilting her head absentmindedly. The girls looked up, interested in the idea of a good party.

"Elaborate…" Tenten said, sitting up straighter. Sakura put her feet back on the ground and scooted closer.

"You know, the annual welcome back to school party." She said. "Tsunade is leaving next Friday to go visit some old firnds of hers. That's the perfect time for the party."

"And the teachers…?" Hinata raised an eyebrow.

"Chaperones, of course." Sakura waved her hand casually.

"And where shall we host it? In a rec room? What about food and music?" Ino jumped in, going into her party planning mode.

"You'll take care of the music. We can ask Lee for help on food and such. And as for the place, leave that to me and Naruto. We need to check to see if we can still use the usual place." Sakura replied, brow slightly furrowed, working out the plans for the party as well.

"I'll work on getting the word out." Yoko said, putting down the napkin she had previously been folding. "We shouldn't tell the freshmen yet. They'll run around blabbing about it to each other and Tsunade will hear. When will we tell the teachers?"

"I'll let Kakashi-sensei know about it tomorrow. He can decide when to tell the other teachers and what not." Sakura nodded decisively. Hinata squirmed excitedly.

"Ooh I can't wait!" She chimed happily. "Tenten and I can work on the decorations and stuff!" Tenten groaned.

"Do I really have to? Why can't I help with food this time?" Four faces instantly stared at her with blank expressions.

"Because you can't cook." Ino stated. Tenten rolled her eyes.

"Why not order pizza?" She mumbled, arms crossed tightly over her chest. Yoko rolled her eyes.

"You can work on the drinks then." She said, inspecting a dark blue painted nail. "NO alcohol, ok?"

"Why not..!" Tenten whined, slumping down in her chair. "Damn freshies, why do they have to come anyway? They're just gonna ruin it." She grumbled.

"Oh, no they won't." Hinata smiled at the brunette. Sakura looked at the Hyuuga girl.

"Have you MET the freshmen class yet?" She asked.

"They're not _that _bad…" Hinata said quietly, sitting back in her chair.

"Yes they are." The four others said. Hinata rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you guys." She looked down at her watch. "Should we go ahead and head back or hang out here for a while longer?" Sakura and Ino looked back throw the tall window into the restaurant, eyeing the ice cream bar.

"I dunno about you guys, but I want some of that ice cream." Ino said standing up. Sakura followed suit.

"Ditto." The others smiled and got up too.

Ice cream sounded pretty good actually.

**That's it for now on this chapter. I feel kind of bad that I can't come up with long chapters like usual. Trying to drag this out at a reasonable pace is much harder than I thought. Anyway, you know the drill. Review and Juugo won't eat you! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Eh, three short chapters in one day won't hurt I guess. I'm kinda on a role here. ;) Enjoy!**

Mouse loved many things.

She loved the feel of the wind whipping her hair in every directions, she loved the way her blood rushed with adrenaline when she leaped across buildings; Mouse loved the scent of grass, the feel of dirt on her bare feet as she ran through the woods, leaping gracefully over dead trees. She loved the way the sun looked as it rose above the eastern horizon, even more as it died in the west, red light bleeding across the sky, staining the clouds pink.

She loved the night even more than the day. The way the shadows stretched hungrily across the ground, tendrils of black seeking to cover everything in their path, concealing her every movement as she stalked through the dark alley ways. Mouse loved the way the moon shone down, cold and unfeeling as it silently watched the sprawling city below, much like she did every night. She loved how bright and clear the stars shone in the sky when she was far away from the city in the dark woods around it. She loved everything; from the great lake off to the east of the city, to the tallest skyscraper she was currently perched on, looking down and observing.

Mouse loved the simple things most, like flowers, warmth, sleep, a good book. She loved music especially, and her iPod, choosing to drown out the normal chatter of life around her, sinking deep into the gentle crooning of a violin, dancing to the melody of a piano in the background, or blaring the sound of heavy guitar solos instead of having to hear the rest of the world. She loved her friends, her mismatched "family", her home. She even felt some content happiness towards her almost-life. But the one thing Mouse loved more than everything else,

Was her job.

Mouse grinned, flesh crawling with anticipation. Oh yes, she loved her job, most definitely. It was the one thing she looked forward to every night, no matter how bad her day had been. It was the one way she could effectively take out her frustration without harming the people who lived far below her, the one job where she could run as fast as she could, and feel her true power course through her with every heartbeat. But, her job was also her darkest secret. Mouse scowled slightly, allowing herself a moment to contemplate on the negative thought.

If anyone were to discover Mouse's organization and what it was for, it would ruin her already seemingly normal existence. It was already bad enough that the city knew of the organizations existence, labeling it as a violent gang terrorizing the streets of Konoha. Mouse smirked at this. If only those fools knew, knew that Mouse's organization was really protecting their feeble human lives from the true threat that stalked through the back alleys, preying on unknown citizens. The smirk was replaced by another scowl, deeper than the first. They wouldn't understand though. Her job was deadly, bloody, and cruel. They had a right to call the organization a violent gang terrorizing Konoha. Because in a way, they were exactly that; Mouse was a killer, her organization made up of killers as well. But their victims were special.

Their prey was vampires.

These vampires were the lowest of the low, fools of humans that gave in to the lure of power and suffered the consequences for it. They became Berserkers within a few weeks of becoming a full-blood vampire; that's where the organization came in. The small organization was made up of a few selected individuals, almost every member being an undead as well. It was their job to find the Berserkers that appeared within Konoha and destroy them before they killed anyone else. They weren't always so lucky, though, as the only way to find the Berserkers was to wait until people started dying, and start from there. At most, a few people would die before the vampire was able to really start feeding, but there were some cases over the past few years when handfuls of people would die. It was frustrating, having to allow others to die before they were able to hunt down the crazed vampires, but it was overall unavoidable.

Mouse dug her sharp fingernails into the concrete below her, anger bubbling up inside her. She was ready to go; her subordinates had located the new Berserker and had been trying to kill it for the past hour. The vampire was fast, and surprisingly sane enough to think semi-properly. It had managed to evade her men so far, and was now heading towards a populated area, hoping the closeness to the humans would get the hunters off its trail. Mouse narrowed her eyes and looked down from the edge of the roof. That thing was seriously mistaken if it thought she'd give up that easily. With that, she stood, running along the lip of the roof until she reached the corner. From there she jumped, her well trained body easily pushing itself twenty feet away from the building. She felt a slight rush as she flew through the air, suspended for a few moments until gravity finally took ahold of her and sent her dropping towards the other buildings below.

With a soft thud, Mouse landed on the top of a hospital building and dashed across the concrete. She leaped across the rooftops as she navigated through the city, finally leaping down silently into an alley. Mouse stood as close to the entrance as she could while still being concealed by the shadows, feet planted firmly on the ground and arms crossed over her chest. She stood as straight as her spine allowed, and fixed her eyes on the back corner of the alley, where she could hear the sounds of running feet and loud panting approaching through the connecting back alley. Moments later a figure skidded around the corner, slamming into the wall as it tried to stop and change direction.

The vampire's loud, frantic breathing came in gasps, and it cast a glance over its shoulder as it ran for the exit. It skidded to a halt when its eyes fell on Mouse. For an instant, Mouse took in the vampire's appearance. The vampire was a girl who looked no more than seventeen, her school uniform torn and bloodied from her last victim. Her lanky brown hair was clumped together with dried blood and pulled into two high ponytails, bangs framing a gray face. Her eyes were a complete, solid black that seemed to glow brightly in the dark alley. Mouse's heart fell slightly. It always disappointed her to see Berserkers that were nothing more than teenagers who had fallen to the greed of power vampirism offered.

The girl panicked, spinning around on her heel and running back through the connecting alley. Mouse was about to run after her, the creatures speed no match for her own when the girls thoughts suddenly slammed into her. Mouse staggered slightly, the force of the girls fear nearly overwhelming her. The girl knew she was being hunted, and what would happen if she was caught. The girl was afraid of the organizations presence circling in around her, but there was something else that paralyzed Mouse. The girl wasn't just afraid of the organization hunting her down, she was afraid of her own existence. The girl was afraid of what she had become and would gladly die if only she could, but nothing had worked before. And the people who were hunting her down scared her, throwing sharp objects at her that cut deep into her skin unlike the knives she had used, and wielding katanas that flashed dangerously under the street lights. Their very presence promised a painful demise, though she didn't understand it.

Mouse choked out a strangled cry as she grasped her head, trying to force the girls' thoughts away, but to no avail. With a shaky step, she forced herself to ignore the girls' fear and chase after her; she still had a job to do. Mouse managed to catch up to the girl in the back alley, grasping her arm tightly. The girl let out a loud shriek of fear, falling to the ground with Mouse tumbling down with her. The girl struggled, trying to get away, but couldn't escape from her captors grip. The girl could sense the others dropping into the alley around her, and she fought harder, trying to get away. A loud, angry hiss next to her ear caused her to freeze, body shaking in fear. She whimpered into the ground awaiting the pain that would surely come.

She gasped as she was pulled up and set against the wall, a hand against her throat the only thing keeping her there. The girl looked up at the people surrounding her, eyes widening in fear as she took them in. They all wore the same cloaks and each had a different white animal mask hiding their faces. The girl stared into the black eye holes of the figure pinning her to the wall. She stiffened, as the small figure pulled a gun from inside their cloak.

"Relax." Mouse's muffled voice came from behind her mask. "It'll be quick, I promise." The girl blinked in surprise. Mouse smiled wryly behind her mask. Maybe her job wasn't so great after all.

"You don't want to hurt anyone else, so I'll help." Mouse said softly as stared intently at the girl, who stared back in confusion, not sure of what to make of the sudden situation. Mouse tapped the side of her head with the gun.

"I know." She said simply. The girl's eyes widened in surprise, and slowly she nodded. She didn't feel as terrified of her attackers anymore, seeing them as her saviors now, willing to save her from the terrible existence that was forced onto her for no reason. She was sad that she had to die, but didn't want to hurt anyone else, so she closed her eyes and accepted her fate. Mouse inwardly sighed, placing the gun on the girl's heart. The girl stiffened slightly, but her body went limp a second later as Mouse pulled the trigger, the shot muted by the silencer. Mouse stood up, allowing Crow to glide forward and kneel before the body. Seconds later, the body ignited as flames started to envelope it. The body burned within seconds, not even ash left.

"Let's go." Mouse said, suddenly ready to return home. Instead of the reply she expected, a loud shriek resonated down the alley. Mouse hissed and spun around, crouching low as she stared at the intruder. At the end of the alley back the way she came, a young woman stood frozen, staring in horror at what she saw. Mouse narrowed her eyes. It was too late for them to erase the girls memory, her scream had already alerted the other people who had been waiting at the front of the connecting alley for her as they were starting to appear behind her. With a growl Mouse jumped up, landing on the roof with her subordinates not far behind. They took off as the girl began babbling hysterically at what she thought was a witnessed murder. Mouse heard V swear profusely behind her and would have smirked if she was not cursing inwardly herself.

The group had seen them, had definitely saw the cloaks and would have identified them and go then go straight to the police and then the news station. The media would surely have this out by the morning news, and Mouse was not happy about that. The city's police would be searching for them for weeks, which meant they'd have to be even more careful about their job. Sakura smiled wryly behind her mask as a sudden thought struck her.

Her job really wasn't all that great sometimes.

**Well, there you have it! Three updates in one day. This last chapter was sorta written write before I uploaded them, so it might not be entirely great and all. I did kinda like it though, since it gave a little bit of insight into Mouse and her character. It really isn't supposed to be clear on her abilities and such though, which I promise is intended because I want to slowly reveal them and all. So, please review since it's great motivation to write these chapter out for everyone! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! Sorry for the ****really ****late update, but it's been a very hectic and I'm feeling quite unmotivated to write. I was actually a little disappointed in the last chapter, so I figured I'd give Mouse and the gang a second shot. Anyway, enjoy!**

Mouse walked out of the control room, absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair around her finger while she was lost in thought. Her shoes made no sound on white tiled floor as she walked hurriedly to the door at the end. A spark of irritation shot through her. She had a very good reason to be agitated. Their employer hadn't sent them any new missions for quite a few months, and anxiety was started to eat away at her conscience from the lack of communication. Mouse paused halfway down the corridor, hand resting lightly on metal. Without a second pause, she tapped lightly on the door.

Mouse sighed when there was no response behind the door. _V must be upstairs then…_ she mused, stepping away from the door. She was a few yards away when she heard the metal door slide open and stopped to look back. V was leaning against the edge of the doorway, arms crossed and uniform coat wrapped around his waist, wearing a pair of jeans and one of his favorite black v-necks. He raised an eyebrow at her as if waiting for an answer.

"What do you want Shorty? I'm a little busy." He asked, voice drawling out lazily.

"Yeah right," Mouse shot back, placing her hands on her hips. "You were probably reading some shojo manga again instead of doing what you were supposed to." V glared in annoyance.

"I do _not_, for the last fucking time, read girly ass manga." V growled out. Mouse smirked widely before letting it slid away into a look of complete seriousness. She opened her mouth to speak, but V cut her off.

"No, I haven't heard anything from her yet." He said, mouth falling into a slight frown. Mouse frowned too, eyebrows coming together in thought, allowing a bit of anxiety to seep out. Mouse was used to the regular jobs her new correspondent had been sending them, and also knew that said correspondent was usually punctual on her, well, corresponding. Mouse turned and started walking back to the door that led to the rest of the hideout, still deep in thought, running over every possible reason for the late job offer.

"Thanks V…" she said vaguely, throwing an absentminded wave over her shoulder, not noticing the slightly worried look on his face. Stopping in front of the metal door at the end of the hallway, Mouse took a black plastic card from her jacket pocket and slid it through the card reader, punching in a code and placing her fingertips on a green-gridded pad. Walking quickly, she walked up a long flight of stone steps ending in yet another door. She turned the knob without pause, still engrossed completely in her thoughts.

Only when Mouse had traveled down the next hallway, taken a left, and had traversed the entrance hall of the hideout did she stop. Ahead of her to the right was the entrance into the room that they used as a lounge, the soft sounds of turning pages and pool being played reached her ears. She leaned against the doorframe and looked into the room, arms crossed over her chest.

The room was pretty spacious, containing a few chairs and couches, along with a tv and pool table. Currently two men were around said table, one leaning against the wall, wearing an utterly bored/slightly stoned expression, blue jeans, sandals and a band t-shirt. The other was leaning over the table, pool stick in hand. He wore blue jeans and a dark blue v neck, his uniform trench coat open, black combat boots peeking out from underneath his pants. Pinocchio and Cash; they were her best weapons experts and techies. The two of them could tell you just about anything you needed to know about the inner workings of a semiautomatic, whether a bayonet or trench knife is better for close range fights, and together, could bring down all but the most advanced security systems of the Pentagon (not that they had done it before or anything).

Mouse smiled, a small sense of pride rushing through her. Her eyes slid over to the couch, where the last of her boys was present. Weasel sat almost completely still, one ankle crossed over his knee and a book poised elegantly in one hand. His uniform coat was draped over his shoulders, and he wore black straight-legs and a black shirt with sleeves that ended midway down his forearms. One elbow was rested on the couch's arm, hand propping his head up while he read. He looked like a statue carved by God himself, with lean, graceful features and the longest lashes ever to grace a person's eyes. A small smile twitched at the ends of Mouse's lips; She knew Weasel was off limits, but damned if she couldn't look!

Mouse sauntered over to Weasel and plopped down beside him, peering over his arm to see what he was reading. As her eyes scrolled down the page, Mouse frowned and looked up at Weasel.

"You and your damn French." She said. Cash and Pinocchio snorted, trying to cover their laugh at her random outburst. A small smile appeared on Weasel's face as he looked up from the page.

"Don't you ever read anything in English?"

"No." He stated simply, lips twitching in amusement at the scowl adorning Mouse's face. She crossed her arms and wiggled down deeper into the couch, falling into an indignant pout. The room fell quiet once more, silence broken only by the sound of pages turning and the small _click! _that came from the pool table. Mouse hid a small smile of contentment, almost forgetting her current anxiety, and simply enjoyed the silent companionship of her boys. At some point, Mouse let her head fall against Weasel's arm, breathing in the smell of Axe and whatever else it was that seemed to be floating around him. Her eyes drooped and her mind began drifting in and out of focus.

Her contentment didn't last much longer though. Mouse was suddenly jerking upright, body stiffening in shock as a loud screech split the air. Her eyes instantly found the source, a large black raven that swooped through the doorway and flew straight for her. Resisting the primal instinct to lash at the bird in defense, Mouse held still, allowing it to stop inches from her faces, wings softly buffering her face.

"It just arrived when I came in." A voice called from the doorway. Mouse's eyes flicked up to inspect the only other female in the room. Crow wore an old pair of jeans, holes reaching from the middle of her leg up to well past her knees. She wore a black tank top much like the rest of the group, a dirty old DC hat turned sideways on her head. Bright red converse contrasted her other clothes. Crow was currently leaning against the doorframe, bored expression focused solely on Mouse, V standing in the hallway behind her.

Mouse gave a nod, reaching her hand out for the raven to gently land on, its leg held out to her expectantly. She untied the scroll attached to the birds' leg by a strip of leather and the bird took flight again, giving a shriek that made Mouse seize up again. She looked down at the message in her hand, sealed with blood red wax and a familiar seal stamped into it. As the raven landed on a cabinet on the far side of the room, Mouse unfurled the scroll of parchment and quickly ran her eyes down the page. After a few moments, Mouse looked up into the expectant faces of her subordinates, a grin spreading its jagged way across her face.

"Well boys and girls, looks like we have ourselves a job."

oooooOOOOOooooo

**ok, so for the sake of having something to update, that's all I'm updating for now. The next chapter will be much longer hopefully, and maybe I can get it up within a few days. Please review dearies; it's what keeps me motivated to write!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Aren't I just a stinker? I take way too long to update. I promise I'm trying to get them written, I just have writers block and what not. Reviews would also be **_**VERY**_** welcome. Also, I was going back through some of the earlier chapters and noticed some continuity errors :O I shall fix them: in chapter one, one of mouse's people was named Puppet, however, it was changed to Pinocchio. In chapter...4? Hinata was writing an essay. It said that she finished an essay for Health, when in fact she was writing an English assignment. Those are the only two I've seen so far. If there are any others, tell me and I'll try to go back and fix them!**

**And finally, I believe it's time for a disclaimer! Take it away Itachi!**

**Itachi: xXCherrybearXx does not own Naruto, nor will she ever hope to.**

**Cherry: hey! D:**

**Itachi: do not defy my divine logic.**

**Cherry: fine. -.-**

**P.s. I want to dedicate this chapter to Parpallee whose enthusiasm over the story got me to finally finish up the last few paragraphs and post this! (:**

** oooooOOOOOooooo**

"What! Sasuke-kun is moving!"

Sasuke sighed inwardly for what seemed like the thousandth time that day and continued to stare boredly out of the window next to his desk, chin resting on his hand. He tried to tune out the chorus of girls surrounding his desk and concentrated on counted the cracks that covered the concrete three stories below. It didn't last long when a slender form latched onto his.

"That's right! Sasuke-kun and I are being forced to go live in Konoha from now on!" Karin whined dramatically and sighed. "At a boarding school no less! Just think of all those stupid leaf students I have to share a dorm room with! They probably have no fashion sense whatsoever and will be all over my dear Sasuke-kun!" A round of angry shrieks and curses resounded around him from the group of girls. Sasuke resisted the urge to punch his so called "sister" and settled for glaring vehemently.

"Karin, get off. Now." He commanded, earning him a whine from Karin.

"But Sasuke!" She hugged his neck tighter, pressing her face closer to his. "Even you don't wanna go! You know that all those Konoha girls are stupid and not worthy of your attention! If you go, it'll just be an annoyance to you and you'll be miserable!" Sasuke pushed Karin away, glaring.

"It doesn't matter if we want to go or not, Karin," he all but spat out. "It's what Orochimaru decided and he won't change his mind. Instead of complaining about it, you might want to start getting ready. And the last time I checked," He went back to staring out the window, bored expression placed back onto his features, "Konoha was number one in the National Academic Test scores, while WE were third." Karin clamped her mouth shut, lower lip pushed out in a pout. Crossing her arms, Karin turned to sit down in her seat.

"I still think they're all going to be incredibly stupid and throw themselves all over you..." She grumbled and returned to the conversation among the rest of the class.

Sasuke once again tuned out the noise as his classmates went back to complaining. He would never admit it, but Karin was right. There was no doubt in Sasuke's mind that the female population of Konoha High would all become brainless, catty, and nuisances to him, no matter how high their grades were academically. They would all fight tooth and nail for even a sliver of the Uchiha's attention, and would relentlessly try to impress him with petty things like looks and aptitude. At that thought, two faces came to the front of his mind, causing him to inwardly groan.

Ino and Sakura.

The two girls who went from being best friends to bitter enemies all because they both liked him; The two girls who always fought the hardest, the two girls who made the most noise over him, and the two girls who annoyed him the most.

He was sure that the loud, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Ino would cause the most problems for him. She had always prided herself on her looks, and now that they were older she would probably try to use them to seduce him into a janitor's closet, which was never going to happen.

As for Sakura...

Sasuke sighed inwardly, recalling the strange pink haired girl. She was probably the only girl whom he had allowed to get to know him. He hadn't minded her company, really. Not until they were eight and she claimed she would beat Ino in winning his heart, that is. After that, Sakura had become an annoyance that he couldn't get rid of. She always seemed to be at his side, smiling and giggling in her annoying kid way, trying to flirt and impress him. But the one thing he had always really hated about her was how she thought she could actually understand how he felt, how ANYONE felt for that matter. A sharp pang of anger went through him at that. How could anyone, especially stupid, pink haired Sakura, understand what it felt like to lose your parents at the hand of your own brother, who you thought would always be there for you, who said he'd always protect you?

Sasuke hid a scowl, trying to push the painful memories out of his mind and think about his current problem. He knew that Sakura had been crushed when he left Konoha under Orochimaru's care when he was twelve. It had been two and a half years already, plenty of time for her to get over it and move on. A part of Sasuke absentmindedly wondered if Sakura had grown up at all since then. He figured she had, but doubted that it would show if he went back. She would revert back to her old self, throwing herself at his feet trying to win him over again. Or she'd burst into tears like she always did when they were kids.

Sasuke figured it would be the latter; Sakura had always been a cry baby, breaking down over the stupidest things. He could see her face in his mind, blotchy and red with tears streaming down her face, sniffling and welcoming him back with open arms. An image of Naruto, Sasuke's best friend when he was a kid, stood next to her, arms waiting open expectantly, that same stupid look on his face. Sasuke nodded inwardly, he knew that these two would accept him back into their arms without hesitation, even after he had left for Oto so abruptly and without warning. Sasuke's train of thought was suddenly interrupted by Suigetsu turning around to speak loudly to Jugo, who sat behind Sasuke.

"Oi, Jugo. You've been quite the whole time, what do you think about leaving?" Sasuke pretended he wasn't listening, also curious as to what the quietest and most resigned of his siblings thought of the whole situation.

"I see no problem really," he said quietly after a few moments. "I don't know why everyone else is making a big deal of it though, since they're not the ones moving there. Also, I've never been to Konoha, nor met anyone from there, so there's really no reason for me to complain about it. Who knows, maybe it's better than Oto?" A red headed girl heard Jugo's remark and spun around, a disbelieving look on her face that turned into a sneer.

"Better than Oto? Ha! Please, Konoha is filled with rich, uptight fuckers that think they're superior to everyone else and don't give a damn about the rest of us. And their students are just as bad! They think they're so much better in everything they do and wave around the fact that they get high scores on tests just to rub it in to other schools whose students work themselves to the bone to even compare! And Konoha only makes those grades because they have a few good students who score so high, it brings up everyone else's score at that sorry excuse of a school!" Sasuke turned his head slightly, peering from the corner of his eye at the new speaker.

She had shoulder length red hair that stuck out from beneath a bandage-wrapped beanie. An old, baggy grey half-shirt hung off her frame over a tight black midriff and a flute was stuck through the belt hanging off her waist. Her jeans were ripped, showing off several areas of her legs and her black Toms were just as worn.

"Shut it Tayuya, no one asked for your damn opinion!" Suigetsu yelled angrily at the girl, who balled her hands into fists.

"Why don't you shut it, shithead!" she yelled back. "I was just letting your little brother over there know how stupid he is for even thinking that Konoha is better than Oto!" Suigetsu opened his mouth to retort, but Sasuke cut him off with a look before turning his gaze to Tayuya. The red head blushed lightly, but stood tall against the stare boring into her.

"Enough, you're giving me a headache." Sasuke said before turning back to the window, effectively ending the conversations and sending everyone back to their seats to quietly await the arrival of their teacher. Sighing inwardly, Sasuke leaned his chin against the palm of his hand, watching the birds circle above in the clear blue sky.

oooOOOooo

Sakura poked her head out of the back door of the teachers' lounge. No one was present in the hallway outside of the cafeteria. Tossing the door open, Sakura made a dash along the wall, keeping low to the ground and glancing around furtively. She made it to the gym unhindered, stealing a glance at the time on her watch.

9:57.

Three minutes left until curfew.

Sakura stole silently across the glossy, wooden floor until she reached the doors to the coaches' offices. Removing the black converse boot that she had used as a door stop, she darted through the small offices and out the back door, flying into a dead out sprint to the dark shapes of buildings across the expanse of the back courtyard. Sakura refused to look down at her watch, not wanting to know if she was locked out or not. Instead she focused on a plan to sneak in.

The pinkette knew she should really be inside her dorm room, ready for bed and doing last minute homework like Yoko and Hinata probably were. If her calculations were correct, Kurenai sensei should be starting on her rounds to make sure all the girls were in their rooms, beginning with the first floor right about now. If the doors weren't already locked, she might be able to make it up the stairwell undetected and hide out in the bathroom. Sakura skidded to a slower speed and bounded up the stairs, grabbing onto the door handle just as she heard an audible CLICK.

Sakura's heart sank.

_'So much for going in through the front door...'_ she inwardly lamented, as she turned quickly to the left and ran around to the back of the dormitory. Years of living on campus made it easy for her to identify the path to the correct window. Whipping out her phone, Sakura sent a hasty text message to Yoko and Hinata:

To: (Yoko) (Hina-boo)

LET ME IN! D'8

~Sakkybear

Sakura stopped beside the third window down the back wall of the dorm, next to the sturdy PVC drain pipe attached to the wall. Grasping the thick plastic tube with practiced, well trained fingers, she began pulling herself up as quickly as she could, thankful her shoes had such a good grip on the brick building. In minutes she was outside their dorm window, tapping urgently on the glass. The black curtains that covered the window were pulled aside and the pale face of Hinata appeared and reached for the latch.

Years before, when they had been assigned as roommates, Yoko (much to Hinata's dismay) had disabled the automatic locking system on their window, allowing them to open the window after hours for purposes like this. In one fluid motion, Hinata undid the latch and pushed up the window, ushering Sakura inside.

"You're cutting it very close you know?" She said sternly. "Kurenai sensei is alreadyon our floor...!" Sakura nodded breathlessly, heading to the bathroom to try and hide.

"I know, I know!" she said. "It's not my fault Kakashi stays in the teachers' lounge so late!" She reached out for the handle only for it to pull back away from her hand. Warm air blasted into Sakura's face and she looked up to see Yoko standing in the doorway, one hand on her hip, the other on the doorknob. Her fluffy white bathrobe hung open over her pajamas and her black hair fell down in wet, wavy strands.

"Kakashi's lateness is rubbing off on you, kid." She said simply and walked past, flopping down on her stomach across her bed. Sakura looked over at the senior, grinning broadly.

"I'm only late if I get caught. If I'm not mistaken, I haven't been caught." Almost as if to reply, someone knocked on the door. Sakura whirled around, eyes wide as she stared at the door. Hinata smirked lightly at her best friend's reaction.

"You're about to get caught, I believe." She said lightly, laughing softly as the small teen shot into the bathroom, nearly slamming the door shut behind her. Chuckling softly, Hinata strode over to the door, opening it up and smiling brightly at Kurenai who stood in the doorway. Kurenai smiled warmly at her favorite pupil.

"Good evening, Kurenai-san." Hinata said with a slight dip of her head in greeting.

"Evening, Hinata." Kurenai replied, returning the soft nod. "Just making sure everyone is in their rooms." Hinata stepped back to allow Kurenai entrance to their dorm room.

"Sakura is in the bathroom." She said, softly stepping towards her desk and sitting down. Yoko looked up from her phone briefly, starring expressionlessly at Kurenai for a moment before going back to typing on her Blackberry. Kurenai suppressed a small shudder at the slightly disturbing stare and glanced at the bathroom door.

"Hi, Chi-chan!" Sakura's muffled voice called from behind the door. Kurenai frowned slightly at the nickname that the pinkette had given her a while back. Sakura was the only student who used the name frequently. Kurenai knew it wasn't meant to be offensive; the young girl had claimed she was terrible at remembering names (which she truly was and still is) and had insisted on using a nickname to make it easier. Now thanks to repeated usage of the nickname, the pinkette used it as often as her real name.

Kurenai herself didn't like the name all that much. Sakura had chosen the name _Chi_ as a way to remember Kurenai's name, and because, as she put it, "was perfect because of her eye color".***** Shaking her head slightly, Kurenai smiled at the two others, satisfied that they were present and not out roaming the grounds.

"Alright, good night girls." She said, turning towards the door. "Don't stay up too late or leave the dorms." Hinata and Yoko agreed quietly, one absorbed in last minute homework, the other most likely texting a boyfriend or something. A shout of agreement came from the bathroom's direction. Kurenai closed the door quietly behind her and continued on her rounds. The moment the door clicked shut, Sakura's head popped out of the bathroom doorway.

"She gone?"

"Obviously." Came the simultaneous reply. Sakura's mouth twitched slightly in annoyance before she opened the door fully and walked over to her bed before plopping down with an unceremonious _oof_. She sat up again, reaching down to unlace her shoes, aware of the soft clicking of keys on Yoko's phone. Sakura glanced up briefly to look at the older girls' form stretched out on her black covers, staring intently at her phone. A slight smile was tugging at the edges of her lips while she texted, causing Sakura to smile mischievously.

"Texting your secret boyfriend, Yo-yo?" She teased. Yoko instantly snapped her phone closed, turning as red as Hinata would if caught in this situation years before.

"No!" She snapped a slight bite in her tone. Hinata looked up from her homework and grinned.

"Yes you are. What's he saying?" Hinata got up and crossed the room to settle next to her, Sakura following suit. Yoko scowled and clutched the phone tightly in her hands. The pinkette's grin broadened.

"Yoko-chan, don't tell me you and this mystery boy are talking dirty now?" Hinata wiggled her eyebrows to emphasize Sakura's tease. The color of Yoko's face darkened to an impossible shade of red, and for a moment, Sakura worried her roommate might explode.

"NO!" Yoko all but shrieked. Hinata laughed at their friend's reaction.

"Really? Then let us see!"

"No." Yoko shook her head furiously. She cut of Sakura's reply as she opened her mouth. "And no, I'm not lying about the content of our conversation. I just don't want you reading it!" Hinata grinned and laid her head against the older girl's shoulder, letting out a soft sigh.

"I bet it's something incredibly sweet. He seems like the type of guy who'd always say goodnight to a girl, judging by all the sweet things he sends you." Sakura nodded in agreement, head tilting slightly to the side in thought. Yoko's mysterious lover traveled a lot and would send her gifts from wherever he went. Her seeming obsession with masks had ended up with most of the ones she owned coming from him, as well as bouquets of flowers and sweets from other countries that came in every now and then. He was even kind enough to send her extras for her two roommates to enjoy as well. A soft smile graced Yoko's lips, and she let her head lean against Hinata's.

"It is, I promise." She said, a slight dreamy tone accentuating her voice. The three stayed like that for a while, lost in thoughts of sweets and roses and exotic masks being sent from mysterious lovers. Sadly, the moment didn't last forever.

"You're still not reading the messages."

"Dammit!"

ooooOOOOoooo

**OK! So I had to end the chapter on a semi funny note. I'm not very good and fluffy stuff, so it kinda sucks. :l but oh well! At least the chapter is done! :D Thanks for reading the story so far and also thanks to Parpallee for getting me inspired to finish this! **

**R&R plz!**

**xXCherrybearXx**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi there kids! This chapter is dedicated to Parpallee (again) cuz her enthusiasm got me to make a double update just for her. (This is what happens when I get feedback from you guys! ;D**hinthint**) I have no idea if this is gonna be long or short, but I wanted to include the party scene. Just a bit of info on the timeline: the school year started in about mid-August, so that puts the girls deciding on the party around the first/second week of September or so. This chapter takes place the week after, during the party. **

** ooooOOOOoooo**

Sakura looked carefully at her reflection, turning ever so slightly to catch the light at different angles. She had dressed simply for the first party of the year: a black tank top under her favorite sleeveless jacket, paired with a pair of light blue jean shorts that could make Daisy Duke proud and the black buckle up boots Tsunade had given her for Christmas last year. Sakura took a moment to admire them; they were her favorite pair of shoes after all, loved even more than her prestigious collection of All-Star converse. The black suede material felt soft and hugged the shapes of her calves perfectly. A few silver bangles adorned her slim wrists along with the usual jelly bean bands. Encircling her neck were three necklaces; a simple, metal cross, a black leather choker, and a necklace adorned with fake glass orbs. Sakura's dark pink bangs framed her face delicately and a small tuft of hair stuck out in aside ponytail. Green eyes rimmed in sparkly black eyeliner flashed mischievously under lids covered in a smokey black eyeshadow.

The pinkette leaned in towards the mirror, adjusting her bangs again, eyes flickering towards the small skull earrings as they flashed brightly in the fluorescent light. A sharp rap on the door frame sent her head whipping to the left. Yoko leaned against the doorframe, a bright red hat pulled low over her eyes, the bottom of a black and red half mask just visible. Her black hair was pulled back in a low ponytail and she wore a loose white shirt and black capris, a pair of white sketchers on her feet. A smirk was tugging at Yoko's lips, the only facial feature visible besides her small nose.

"Are you going to spend all night in here?" She asked playfully. "Because it would really suck to be late to the party." Sakura felt her lip twitch in amusement.

"I'm almost done, just let me put my lip rings back in." Sakura plucked a tiny hoop off of the with delicate fingers, quickly fixing it into the corner of her bottom lip, followed by the second. Swiping the end of a clear gloss stick across her pale pink lips, sakura grinned at her reflection and turned to Yoko.

"Ready!"

"About time." Yoko muttered, pushing herself off of the frame in one fluid motion. The older girl sauntered over to the door, Sakura all but skipping along behind her and coming to a halt beside Hinata. The pretty Hyuuga girl had her hair down loose and wavy, letting it tumble over her creamy white shoulders. She wore a white tank top and a modest purple skirt, a black belt hanging on her waist and flats covering her feet. The only jewelry she wore was the simple butterfly necklace Naruto (and somewhat Sakura) had gotten for her last year. Light make up covered her eyelids, complimenting her soft lilac eyes. Sakura smiled lightly at her roommate, who smiled sheepishly back.

"Ready to go?" the pinkette chirped brightly, earning a shy nod from Hinata. Sakura felt a slight bit of pity for the Hyuuga. Crowds didn't suit Hinata well and she generally didn't like parties. However, the delicate girl suffered through the pounding music, flashing lights, and endless flirting that bombarded her at them. Why she did this was blatantly obvious to Sakura and mostly everyone else. Except, of course, Naruto, who was the only reason Hinata dared to go to these social gatherings in the first place. Sakura shook her head inwardly. Naruto may have been her best friend, more like a brother than anything, but the boy could be so oblivious that it was maddening! Of course, Hinata wouldn't let anyone tell Naruto about her crush on him, saying that he'll take notice in his own time, or if he doesn't like her, he'll let her know. Yoko nearly slapped herself in the face in exasperation because the girl didn't seem to grasp that Naruto was too dense to notice if he had feelings for someone.

Sakura grinned and linked arms with Hinata, nearly marching out the door after Yoko, and headed down to the first level of the dormitory. The girls stepped lightly down the carpeted staircase (sliding down the oak railing in Sakura's case) and walked quickly across the spacious room. Bean bags, chairs, and couches were placed throughout what the students used for a Rec Room, TV's and gaming systems pushed into a few corners and against walls. Plants and other décor were put up as well to give the room a bit more life. None of this familiar scene was taken in by the rushing friends as they nearly ran out the door, suppressing giggles of excitement.

As quietly as they could, the three made their way across the grass lawn that separated the girls' and boys' dormitories and headed towards the dark, looming mass at the back of the grounds. The thin sliver of moon did nothing to light the way towards the abandoned building, nor did it do anything to relieve the eerie presence it exuded, not that it looked any less creepy in the sunshine. During the day, the black object had the definite shape of the burnt out shell that had once been the old school coed dorms before the Fire had happened. No matter how bright the sun shone down on it, the Old Dorms always looked creepy and dangerous, especially during the winter when the woods behind it were bare of leaves.

The Old Dorms were of limits to all students, due to safety reasons and such, so of course there were students who had explored it. Naruto had gone exploring one day when they were twelve, and Sakura, being the kid who didn't want to get in trouble for him going in there, followed. The young kids had quickly explored every square inch of the building that they could get to and had decided to make it their secret hangout. Recently Sakura had decided to convert the abandoned dorms into a party house, and once she introduced the idea to Naruto, the two had the whole building cleared in a matter of months. Now, the building was usually where they threw parties that Tsunade wasn't aware of, exactly like what they were doing tonight.

The three stopped in front of the charred building and stifled their laughter. A beat was pounding dully through the air as Hinata danced forward and gently eased open the door, ushering her roommates inside. Yoko darted in after Sakura, Hinata taking up the rear, holding a flashlight that she had pulled out of her bag. The light danced over piles of rubble that littered the floor and lit up beams that had fallen down slightly. Inside, the music became louder and Sakura felt a shiver of excitement race down her back. Silent as shadows, the girls made their way down the side hallway to another door and stepped through. Lights pulsed in time to the music that reverberated through the air.

"Wow this place looks great!" Sakura shouted, barely being heard over the party music. The Hyuuga girl looked around what used to be the dormitory's rec room and silently agreed with her pink haired companion. A strobe light delivered the scene in halting images, the party goers seeming to be caught in pictures taken in rapid fire succession.

Lights had been placed around the room and on rafters to light up the floor, which was an open expanse cleared of all rubble in the center of the room. Hundreds of bodies jumped and squirmed against each other in time to the song booming from speakers set up around the floor. Tables had been set up off to one side, laden with pizza and drinks for the students, and on a raised platform stood the DJ table. Hinata beamed proudly as she saw her friend Shino above the crowd, John Lennon sunglasses in place and head bobbing to the beat. Hinata remembered when Shino had been the weirdest kid in her class, hardly talking to anyone. If the heiress actually thought about it, if it hadn't been for Sakura, Shino probably wouldn't have as many friends as he did now. She was proud of her bug loving friend to have come far enough along to be able to stand in front of a crowd and do what he did best, which surprisingly was DJing (dunno if that's a word.). He was still quiet and a little creepy, but that could be easily looked over.

Sakura grinned broadly and wrapped her hands around her roommates', pulling them towards a small section in a corner where chairs and couches had been placed months before. Spread around the section was most of their group of friends, minus those who were out dancing. The small teen quickly released her roommates and ran forward, colliding with the black and orange blur bee-lining right for her. Naruto nearly tackled her to the ground, but the two managed to stay upright as they delivered excited bear hugs.

"You're late!" Naruto yelled, a laugh dancing on his lips. Sakura laughed back and let go.

"Sorry! I was trying to finish getting ready!" Naruto rolled his eyes dramatically.

"What do you do that takes so long to get ready?" He shouted above the music.

"A lot!" Sakura replied, wagging her tongue at him before half skipping over to the couch where Gaara and Lee were sprawled. Gaara's older brother was planted on the ground in front of them, black-jeaned legs stretching out in front of him. Sakura plopped down onto Gaara's lap and placed her feet on Lee's, easily stealing the Monster can from Kankurou's hand, ignoring his cry of protest. She just grinned and settled back against the arm rest before taking a sip of the energy drink. A slight smile touched her lips when she felt Gaara's chin rest lightly on her shoulder.

"You're late." He said softly, just loud enough to hear over the music. Sakura nodded apologetically, explaining that her hair took too long to straighten. Gaara nodded, a slight jerking movement, and settled back against the couch, arms hanging loosely around the pinkette's waist. Sakura looked around to see who all was present in their little corner.

Naruto had settled next to Hinata who had leaned against a wall, nearly hidden by shadow. Naruto was no doubt telling her about the hellish classes he had had to endure all day and was waving his arms wildly in excitement, the shy girl nodding softly every so often, smiling softly up at him. Yoko had disappeared, no doubt to go looking for pizza, along with Chouji who was most likely doing the same. Sakura noted idly that Ino was missing before spotting her platinum blonde ponytail swinging as she danced with some boy. She noted her friend occasionally looking over at their group, a somewhat irritated look passing over her face. Sakura knew what she was looking at before she had even turned her head to see Shikamaru and Temari sitting in a chair a few feet away. Shikamaru looked bored but seemed to be in a serious conversation with the senior perched on his lap, one arm around his neck. A slight smile flicked across his face at something the older girl said before he said something back.

Sakura smiled lightly at the pair. No matter what Ino said about them, the two made one of the cutest couples at Konoha. She didn't know Shikamaru that well, other than that he was a freaking genius and in her pre-calculus class. However, what she did know of him was enough to deem him a pretty nice guy, albeit a total lazy, pain-in-the-ass teenager. Temari was also a really good friend of hers. She was Gaara and Kankurou's older sister, set to graduate at the end of this year. She had transferred from America with her brother's at the end of last year and had seemed pretty scary to most of the student body. She had learned of Temari through Ino and Tenten, both of whom shared a room with her along with some freshman kid. When the two had met through a studyhall, they had kicked it off and became pretty great friends. It was a shame that Ino didn't like Temari at all, Sakura thought to herself. Of course, the fact that Temari was now together with Ino's old boyfriend did slightly warrant a bit of meanness. However, the full out hatred Ino felt towards the senior who had allegedly "stolen her boyfriend" was pretty over the top. Temari turned her head and noticed Sakura staring at her and Shikamaru, offering a small smile and a wave before returning her attention to her boyfriend. Sakura smiled and continued her look around the small group.

Across from Shikamaru and Temari on the other end of the group sat Neji and Tenten. Neji sat in a chair, back straight and arms and legs crossed, looking as stoic as ever. Tenten sat beside him, animatedly telling him something, pouting when he shook his head at her. Sakura couldn't help the small grin that crossed her face at the two. Neji was Hinata's older cousin. He was cold, uptight, and a genius for a kid in 11th grade. He took mostly senior classes and was in Sakura's math class, too. She never really liked Neji much, due to how he hated Hinata when they were younger. He didn't like her much either but seemed to warm up to her a bit after seeing the positive effect the small pinkette had on his cousin's personality. He caught her eye and gave her a slight nod, his ponytailed hair slipping down over his shoulder, before staring pointedly at her position on Gaara's lap. Sakura shrugged and gave a small smile, giggling slightly when Neji rolled his eyes in response. She wasn't quite sure what it was that Tenten, their school's second most outspoken student, saw in the boring Hyuuga, but whatever it was had the brunette hook, line, and sinker.

Said brunette cast a curious look in Sakura's direction before going back to Neji, no doubt picking up whatever their previous conversation was before. Sakura smiled again, amused at the antics of her fellow classmate before letting her eyes rest on the final person present. Sitting on the other side of Lee and blocking out his surroundings completely, sat Sai. He was slightly bent forward, eyes focused intently on the drawing pad in his lap. His hand jerked quickly over the page, dark charcoal lines slashing across the page. From her vantage point, Sakura couldn't see what it was that the boy was drawing, but was impressed that he could even see what the hell he was doing in the erratic lighting. She leaned forward, straining her neck to get a better view of the picture.

It was to the belief of both Sakura and Naruto (along with a few of their friends) that Sai had supernatural abilities, allowing him to tell when someone was looking at him, talking, or thinking about him. Whenever someone found themselves in one of the above situations, Sai would suddenly appear and ask them what they were doing, or would look up and stare back, as was the case in this instance. The two tiny, emotionless orbs of black that were Sai's eyes lifted up to meet Sakura's green ones. After a slight pause, Sakura smiled broadly and waved at him, not in the least perturbed by the blank stare she received. Sai gave her one of his rare, real smiles that didn't look fake before returning to his drawing, once again tuning out the world around him. Sakura did one more quick sweep of the group before settling into a more comfortable position against Gaara, her heart-attack-in-a-can-of-sunshiney-goodness clasped tightly in her fingers.

Said can of goodness was then nearly flung across the couch when both Sakura and Gaara jerked as they were suddenly assaulted by an orange blur from behind. The two sent glares at the ball of energy that was Naruto, who grinned down at them widely, completely ignorant. He leaned over the back of the couch, not noticing Gaara flinching away from the very close quarters, and yelled towards Sakura.

"Hey, Sak, get up!" His voice barely made it over the music. Sakura tilted her head questioningly. The blonde straightened and walked around the couch, grinning madly as he gripped her hand and pulled her off of Gaara and towards the mass of students. Sakura grinned just as madly as he turned back and mouthed to her.

"Let's dance."

_Journal entry #...3?_

_Yo, it's been a while since I've written in this thing… I'm only writing in this again for the sake of having __something __to try and take my mind off things. And just __why__ does my mind need to be taken off of things? Because I got proverbially jumped by my roommates, that's why. How did this happen? Simple:_

_ It was while we were still at the party and such. Everything was going great; the music was loud, there was enough caffeine running through my bloodstream to keep me wired for the next three days, and everyone was having fun. Then it happened. One minute I was dancing with Gaara after finally getting him off of the couch, the next I'm being dragged away by Yoko and Hinata, both shouting something about needing to talk to me. Yoko pulled us both through one of the darker, more eerie looking hallways that led off of the main room. Once the music was at a dull roar, the two pulled me into a burnt out room and quite literally cornered me. Well, remember when I found out that certain little piece of information at the start of the school year and got a little bit upset? And then I didn't tell Hinata and Yoko why, figuring if I kept quiet long enough they'd forget about it? Yeah, well, they didn't forget._

_ After some intense interrogating and threats on Yoko's part, and one extremely colorful and particularly violent threat from a very frustrated Hinata, I finally told them about the news students we'd be getting. If I wasn't so angry at the time I would have thought their facial expressions were almost comical. I'm not mad at them of course. They were just really worried about me and doing what best friends do. Luckily they agreed to keep this our little secret. This information isn't something to be passing around to the rest of the student body, let alone those in our group. They did tell me I'd have to let everyone know that I knew about this at some point though. :l Oh, well, I'll deal with that later I guess. Anyway, it's late at I think Yoko knows I'm still up. Night then._

Sakura placed the pen between her teeth and closed the small journal in front of her before sliding it under her pillow and shoving it down between her bed and the wall. She turned off the flashlight app on her phone before throwing the covers off of her head and laying it on the desk beside her bed, the pen laid gently beside it. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she rolled onto her back, blinking to get her eyes to adjust to the dark. The rustling of sheets sounded off to Sakura's left and she turned her head in the general direction. Even without being able to see, Sakura felt Yoko staring at her from across the room. She could picture Yoko's eyes watching unblinkingly in her mind. Another sigh escaped the girl's lips and she pushed herself up and out of bed.

Padding softly across the floor, Sakura felt her had contact the edge of Yoko's duvet cover and she slipped into the bed after Yoko had shifted over to make room. Settling down with her head pressed against the older girl's collarbone, Sakura closed her eyes. A few moments of silence pervaded the air before there was the sound of more rustling covers, followed by a sharp and highly colorful swear and the sudden movement of the four poster bed. Yoko jerked up onto her arms and the pinkette raised her head to stare in the direction of their roommate's dark muttering. As if feeling the confused stares, Hinata whispered apologetically.

"I hit my foot on the bed." Yoko and Sakura burst into quiet giggles and squirmed to make room as Hinata climbed under the covers. Once the three had settled down again with various levels of sighs, silence once more dominated the room. Sakura blinked in the darkness, arms firmly pressed against her chest and the arms of her two friends wrapped tightly around her. Hinata sighed and wriggled closer, trying not to fall off the limited space available. Sakura closed her eyes and listened to the even breathing of her roommates. She didn't know how much time had passed before Yoko whispered softly, her breathe fanning against the top of her head.

"You gonna be ok, kiddo?" She asked softly. Sakura pondered that question for a while. Sakura shrugged, she'd cross that bridge when the time came. She nodded softly against Yoko's neck. Yoko gently ran her hand against Sakura's hair, humming softly. Sakura closed her eyes again and pressed tighter against her friends. She barely heard Yoko's quiet whisper as she tried to fall asleep.

"If you say so kid."

**OK! Sorry it took me forever to update! I've gotten back into that "don't wanna write" rut again. But I got this chapter done finally! I already had chapter 7 written and ready to be posted, but since I wanted to do a double update, I had to wait until I finished this one! Hope you guys enjoyed and give me some feedback on what you think! ;)**

**Also, I have a request to give out to all of those who are reading this story. I've been thinking about it and I've decided that I really need a beta. :l I know that my writing isn't all that great and would like someone to help with suggestions so I can make each chapter the best that I can for all of you guys. If you know of someone who can help or if you would like to be a beta, please let me know! **

**~Cherry**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey there fanfictioners! It's time for another update. I don't have any idea how long it will be since I have yet to start writing it at this point, and I only know the general outline of it at the moment. I seem to be possessed by a bit of writer's block, but hopefully I can overcome it while I write this in class. Hope you guys enjoy it!**

**Also, I've been trying to work on writing in Mouse's POV, because she provides an interesting viewpoint to write from (in my opinion) and I need to work on character development. I realize that most of the stuff that comes from her point of view will be confusing and possibly disjointed, due to the lack of information on who is who in her point of view. I am well aware that it could be irritating for a few readers, but I'm afraid that you'll just have to put up with it for the story. :l **

A soft breeze gently tugged at the ends of Mouse's hair, a few strands tickling her cheek as she stared at her surroundings. Bright sunlight shone down, casting shadows underneath the trees spread out around her and warming the chill afternoon air. The blades of grass reached up towards the white orb shining in the vast, cloudless blue dome above them, colored green even though it was mid-November. Flowers grew in small patches across the expanse of green that suddenly ended and gave way to dirt around the swing set Mouse currently occupied with Crow. Farther out, other play sets of varying size and purpose were occupied by several screaming children, the oldest of which couldn't be more than eleven. The parents of said shrieking posterities sat a few yards away on benches, talking to each other or looking around the park, all while keeping an eye on their respective charges.

Mouse nudged her foot against the ground slightly, resulting in her swing moving backwards a few inches before gliding forward again. The girl's attention honed in on the patterns and scuffs in the dirt, eyes picking out individual pebbles, bugs, and even grains of dirt if she focused on any particular section. She winced at a particularly loud screech of delight emitted as a little girl of about five slid down one of the many slides. She nodded absentmindedly at something Crow was saying from the swing next to her, not actually hearing the entire sentence. Silence fell between them, broken only by the sound of Crow reaching into the front pocket of her hoodie and removing a stick of candy before placing it between her lips.

The candy sticks had become a welcome habit to Mouse (who usually had a few herself) and the rest of Akatsuki. Crow had once had the habit of smoking, but out of consideration for Akatsuki's more…sensitive members had quit, using the sticks of candy as a substitute. Crow still kept the lighters from her old habit, occasionally using them to melt the ends of the candy out of boredom, which was precisely what she was doing at the moment. The butane lighter made a sharp metallic _snick_ as Crow flicked the flame on and off, a bored look adorning her features.

"That lady over there is watching us, you know?" Mouse mused absentmindedly, tilting herself back to stare up at the sky above, gloved hands wrapped tightly around the swing chain. She pushed off the ground and swung her legs to get her swing moving. Crow eyes flashed up to find the woman Mouse had indicated, then settled back on the orange flame that flickered inches from her nose, letting out a very impressive and unladylike snort.

"Like I care." She stated bluntly, lips moving around the cherry flavored stick jammed firmly between her teeth. "She can look all she wants. She's probably just some stuck up, middle class-er who thinks she's superior to trash like us." Mouse's feet slid across the dirt with a loud grating sound as she stopped her motion and sat up, cocking her head to the side.

"Yeah, pretty much." Mouse said after a few moments. "It's more directed at me though. She doesn't like how I look and thinks I'm some street child whose parents can't afford decent clothing and that I probably do drugs in alleyways at night. She thinks I'm too young to look the way I do and all that. You, she thinks, are going to end up setting things on fire and possibly being a prostitute since you're actually pretty. She's disappointed at us both for living the lives we do and believes whole heartedly that we're letting our whole future slip away because we do nothing but sit in parks and play with lighters."

"Damn." Crow said after a slight pause. She flicked the lid back onto her lighter and stuffed it into the pocket of her hoodie. "You got all that in one go?"

"Yup." Mouse replied, breaking off the end of Crow's candy and biting into it, ignoring her friends indignant exclamation.

Silence settled once again over the two, and Mouse looked around the park in quiet speculation. There were several people about, either around the play-sets or wandering down the paths and not for the first time Mouse was thankful for the fact that no one in the city knew the identities of any of the members of the notorious "gang". Mouse tilted her head back and stared at the leaves of the oak tree above her. Already the leaves were beginning to fall, the trees shedding their glorious robes of fiery shades. Splashes of sapphire blue peeked through the ever growing gaps in the tree covers, infused with a tint of white sunshine. A slight smile slipped across Mouse's face. Konoha truly was a beautiful place, especially for a large city.

The metropolis spread out in a seven mile radius, a bustling cityscape filled with shining skyscrapers that stretched towards the sky in its center. While it wasn't quite the concrete jungles of Tokyo and New York, it was still fairly big and nearly confusing at first glance. However, there was one defining feature that set Konoha apart from the rest of the world's cities. That feature was the massive forest of oaks, maples, and even pines that surrounded sprawling city, as well as the fields and parks dotting its interior. The parks themselves held several varieties of trees and flowers; some native to the region and others imported from other countries or hybridized variations.

Konoha's parks were monuments of beauty and artistry in and of themselves, and were arguably one of the cities proudest projects, with the exception of the monument carved from granite that stood in the center of the biggest park. This monument had been erected soon after the city was established. The citizens had elected a young, local artist to sculpt a huge statue of the city's first mayor in honor of all the hard work and sacrifice he put in to the building of their home. As the years went by and a new mayor was elected, the same artist had once again created a statue and placed it alongside the first. The third statue was of the cities third and now current mayor, Sarutobi Hiruzen. The old man had the longest running office of the cities for mayors.

Mouse blinked thoughtfully up at the leaves shaking softly in the wind, a somber mood taking hold of her thoughts. The fourth and final statue that stood in the center of that particular park was also the largest. It depicted a man standing tall and proud towards the East, head tilted up slightly as if he were truly watching the sun rise each morning above the tree tops. Other than its size, the expression that was carved into the granite face was the stone monuments greatest feature. A smile, small and peaceful, was etched onto the lips as the statue watched the sun. His eyes seemed to stare much more fully out than his stoic companions, and his hair looked as if it were blowing in a gentle breeze.

This man was Namikaze Minato, the cities fourth and most memorable mayor. He had been the youngest man to ever be elected for the office, but his kindness and love for the city more than made up for his lack of experience. Under his care, Konoha thrived and grew, becoming one of the most peaceful cities in Japan. The citizens loved him and the whole city was devastated when they learned of the accident that had killed him sixteen years before. The statue was their final 'thank you' to the man they so greatly admired.

Mouse had never seen the Yondaime in person, he had died when she was still a baby, but she had seen his legacy and heard the stories of his amazing character. She had concluded that Minato was a man with high morals, a man who could have changed the world if he were still alive. He had done so much, and gave so much to the city, and in the end left much behind. Mouse would openly admit that the Yondaime was a man she greatly respected. Mouse smiled a little wider, letting her eyes travel around the beautiful park once more. Konoha was truly a beautiful city.

But it was a city of fools.

In truth, Mouse would have liked for the city to still be under Minato's watch. It would have made her job a lot easier at least. Mouse was sure that Minato would approve of what her group did, since they shared the common want to protect the citizens from the dangers that lurked in the dark alleys and forest. But unfortunately, the old mayor was dead and the Sandaime had taken up the post again at the urging of the people. While Sarutobi was an ample leader, he was not Minato. The peace that was part of the Fourth's leadership broke down after he died and Sarutobi was not able to keep that peace stable.

Beneath the city's skin of normality and calm, someone was either getting arrested or being murdered. Gangs that had slipped into faded memories of long ago were now back and prominent in Konoha's backstreets. Death and despair; that was the everyday life of Konoha's bottom tier. And the rest of Konoha…

God, Mouse hated them.

They were either too uncaring of what happened outside of their own little bubbles of socialites to take notice, or were casting condescending looks of distaste in the direction of the lower population. _**They**_ were the ones who saw Mouse's group as riff-raff and scourges of the most menacing kind. They believed that Akatsuki was nothing more than a low-class gang of psychopaths who preyed on the people of Konoha. They pretended like they knew everything about the group, when in reality they knew nothing. Rumors flew through the city on disdainful, black wings, and soon the people feared the mysterious group. Mouse frowned. They were all such fools. Letting her gaze drift back to her feet, Mouse pushed off gently against the ground, absorbed in her musings.

The people of Konoha could really grate on Mouse's nerves, both for their stupidity and the fact that there were so many of them. The city housed more than eight-hundred thousand people, and although the city was large and sprawling, the amount of people that occupied the center at all times of the day made it very difficult for Akatsuki to do its work. There was always the danger of someone catching them during a job, either forcing them to retreat or having to leave the scene quickly. Occasionally there were only one or two that the group could catch and then Crow or Weasel could give them a memory swipe. Unfortunately, most people in Konoha had started traveling in groups at night since they discovered the "threat" of Akatsuki.

Another issue they had was the amount of gangs running around through the alleys of Konoha's Underground. Most leaders didn't really take kindly to the group in the beginning, seeing as how they got the most attention and fear, and seemed to collectively have a grudge against Akatsuki. More than once did the small band have to deal with members of gangs attempting to kill them or track their hideouts. For the most part, Akatsuki went unhindered by these small attacks and threats, keeping hidden from even the best of Konoha's trackers. They interacted as less as they could and were rewarded with the air of mystery that surrounded the group.

A sharp sound of several high pitched shrieks caught Mouse's attention. Looking up, she spotted a small group of children chasing each other across the park. A soft smile touched her lips. Konoha really was a beautiful city even with its dark secrets and faults, and although most of the population was a nuisance to her, there were still her reasons for wanting to protect it.

Even though she didn't have much sentiment towards it, this was still her home. She lived here and had friends that lived here who needed to be protected from the murderous shadows trying to engulf the city. Looking across the vast stretches of the park, Mouse was reminded of the main reason she had decided to reform Akatsuki and have them become Konoha's "guardian angels" so to speak.

There were approximately two hundred thousand people under the age of 18 in Konoha. They were, as the mayors of the past had put it, the future of Konoha, who inherited our city's "Will of Fire". They would live on to become the next generation of doctors, lawyers, and protectors of their beloved city. But they were woefully unprotected themselves, and Mouse wanted to give them a future free of having to be used as food for what prowled Konoha's streets at night. The children would one day grow up, inheriting their parents' judgmental views, but Mouse would keep protecting them until the day that she died, regardless.

Mouse spotted a group of teenagers walking down the path. A splash of bright yellow and orange attracted her eyes to the boy half shouting at the front of the group. A sad smile crossed her face. This was one of the many things that the Yondaime had left behind when he had died; His young son who had been born the night of his death, Uzumaki Naruto. The boy was a perfect example of why the citizens angered her so much. Humans tended to do hateful things in their grief, and Konoha was no exception.

When the people had learned of the death of the mayor's wife, Kushina, upon childbirth, they mourned the loss of a figure they held dear to their hearts. But rumors flew fast between the superstitious mothers of the city. Naruto had been born on the night of the Kyuubi, a demon from the folklore of Konoha's early days. The Kyuubi was a monster that brought nothing but death and destruction and for a child to be born on the tenth night of October was a dark omen to some. Indeed, the wild superstitions and rumors would soon bring forth proof of their authenticity.

As Minato was returning home from a business trip in Suna, he was informed of his wife's death. Struck with grief at her passing, but filled with a small hope and the urge to see his newborn son, the mayor had raced to the hospital in his car. No one was quite sure what had happened after Minato had left the runway of the airport. The police report had been that the car had lost control as it hydroplaned on a puddle leftover from the recent rain. The body was burned almost beyond recognition in the resulting fire, but it was soon identified as the cities beloved mayor.

With this new blow dealt to Konoha, the people turned the blame to the baby. They blamed him and his unlucky birth for the deaths of two of their most beloved idols and most were filled with a deep-seated hatred of the boy, claiming that he would be nothing but trouble and ruin the city one day. They shunned the boy, debating whether or not to end his existence to save themselves the inevitable trouble they believed would come to them if he was allowed to live. Luckily, he was taken in by the doctor present at his birth, and she raised him as her own, protecting him from the people who hated him so much.

Mouse watched the grinning boy who so closely resembled Minato, studying him with eyes slightly narrowed. Naruto was, in a way, like her. Hated by many and alone since birth. But for those few similarities, the two were completely different.

Where Mouse was dark and somber, Naruto was bright and optimistic. Where Mouse gave up long ago, Naruto kept persevering. While Mouse couldn't feel anything half the time, Naruto _could. _He could feel such an array of emotions, it made Mouse nearly jealous. He meant every expression that crossed that happy face of his. But most amazingly of all, and much to Mouse's wonder, Naruto had squashed every bit of hate he had towards the people of Konoha. He did not really hate them just because they were overly superstitious for no reason at all, nor did he shun them as they did him. Instead, he loved the city and its people, for all their faults and secrets, a feat that Mouse found impossible to accomplish and completely naïve. Then again, she had to remind herself whose son this was after all.

She liked Naruto; he was a good kid, kind and caring for everyone. He was strong, not just physically either, and he valued his friends above everything. He could be a little annoying at times, being as loud as he was, but that just made him all the more of a resemblance of the Yondaime. The boy had great dreams too, dreams that Mouse approved of wholeheartedly. Naruto wanted to become mayor of the city, not only so he could protect them, but so that he could prove that he was somebody worthy to the citizens. Mouse had silently cheered for him when she chanced upon his goal; he was the son of Namikaze Minato. There was no doubt in her mind that Naruto really **could** change the world one day. And she would be there with her Akatsuki, helping him protect those precious people he cared so much for when he could not. In truth, Mouse was used to that bright smile plastered across the boy's face, even if it was a bit fake. She could not bear the sight to see someone like Naruto, who had worked so hard for that small bit of happiness, lose it all.

So she would endure it all, the hate, the hiding, the secrets, the lies, all of it. She could put up with the heartless, uncaring Konoha to protect them all. She would do it for people like Naruto, who grew up never knowing his real mother and father; for the innocent children who would one day grow up to cast disapproving stares on people like her; for the mayor who had loved this city with every fiber of his being and had given them all so much; for everyone who needed protection from the dead, and even the ones that really could just go ahead and die. Yes, Mouse could endure.

Afterall, Konoha was such a beautiful place…

oooOOOOOooo

Sakura slipped her arm around Naruto, mouth wide in a loud laugh as the two skipped ahead of the small group and towards the center of the park. A stretch of concrete marred the yellowing expanse of grass and four statues towered up above them. The two friends ignored the slightly annoyed and amused shouts of the others to wait for them and jumped farther ahead. When they got to the concrete edge, Naruto released his hold on the small girl's shoulders and dashed ahead excitedly, arms held out slightly and a laugh dancing off of his lips. Sakura smiled softly to herself; Naruto reminded her of a child on Halloween whenever he ran like that.

The exuberant blonde stopped in front of the tallest statue and glanced up at it, hands placed on his hips and head craning back to stare at its face. Even from this distance, Sakura could see the huge grin plastered across his face. She slowed down to allow the rest of their friends to catch up and continued to walk towards Naruto. His bright orange and black jacket stirred slightly from the wind and his blonde spikes of hair tousled gently along to the side. Somehow, Naruto had convinced them all to go on a break to the park. Sakura shivered lightly in the chill breeze and tugged her jacket tighter around her small frame. Rubbing her arms she grumbled inwardly to herself, wondering why she had agreed to come out in the cooling fall weather. She jumped slightly as an arm slung heavily around her neck and a barking laugh sounded loudly near her ear.

"Cold there, Shorty?" Kiba grinned as Akamaru trotted up on the girl's other side, tail wagging happily. Sakura scowled up at the loud brunette and jabbed her elbow into his side lightly.

"Yes I am dog breath," she said, turning her attention to the oversized dog nudging at her arm incessantly. "So what if I am?"

"How can you be cold?" Kiba half shouted in disbelief, rubbing his side slightly. "I'm burning up!" Sakura eyed the Inuzuka boy wearily, taking in his apparel. It escaped her how he could be out in sixty below weather in nothing but khaki shorts and a t-shirt, and _still_ be hot. The pinkette just shook her head and sighed.

"Only you would complain about it being too hot Inuzuka." A bored voice said behind the two. Sakura refocused her attention on scratching Akamaru's ears before he knocked her over while Kiba looked back at whoever had spoken.

"Ah, shut it, Hyuuga." Kiba retorted, stuffing his hands deep into his pockets. Sakura tuned out the argument that followed, absentmindedly scratching at Akamaru while keeping her eyes on her feet. Halloween was coming up relatively quickly, and that meant an increase of homework, party ideas that would be passed between the groups, and other plans they were all sure to come up with. It would be getting very busy within the next few weeks and Sakura really wasn't looking forward to it. The girl subconsciously began chewing on her nails, a habit she had developed whenever she was anxious or worried. A pair of bright orange converse came into her field of vision and Sakura looked up.

Naruto was still standing in front of the statue of the Fourth, arms now dangling by his sides and grin replaced by a look of quiet seriousness. A touch of sadness glimmered in his cerulean blue eyes and Sakura stepped up quietly beside him. Glancing up, she examined the intricately carved marble statue that towered above them.

"It's incredible, ne?" Naruto asked quietly. Sakura nodded solemnly beside her best friend.

"Yeah."

"How one city, filled with thousands of people, would make a monument this important for just one person."

"You'd have to be someone pretty incredible to be able to get a statue this big." Sakura glanced at Naruto from the corner of her eye.

"That's gonna be me one day, ya know?" Naruto looked down at the smaller girl. Sakura felt a sense of pride as she saw the determination burning brightly in his eyes. A grin split his face.

"They're gonna make a statue of me that'll make the Fourth's look like nothing!"

Sakura couldn't help but grin back. Naruto had always been obsessed with becoming the next mayor of Konoha. He wanted to prove to everyone that he could do it, despite what they all believed about him. Sakura knew the rumors; she had heard them all when she was a little girl. She knew as well as Naruto did how difficult it would be to win over the people that lived outside of their little world at Konoha High. But Naruto was always so determined, so optimistic, Sakura had a hard time believing that he wouldn't be chosen in the end. She buried her hands farther down into her jacket pocket and glanced back up at the statue's face.

"You sure about that, Whiskers?"

She couldn't help it. She had asked that same question over a thousand times, and he always answered her the same way. It had become a sort of ritual for them, one that they both seemed to thrive on the most.

"You better believe it, Pinky."

**Bleh! This took me forever to get through! O.o**

**But I finally did! It's Christmas break for me so hopefully I can write a lot more. I have four chapters that need to be written. They may not be woefully long, but we'll see. I have to get the last two updated for their respective holidays since I missed out on updating for Halloween and Thanksgiving. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and remember! READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! It makes my day extremely brighter to know that people are actually reading this and the encouragements are fairly appreciated. I still would like to have a Beta if anyone wants to volunteer, and if anyone has a chapter request, say for like a fill-in chapter of character interaction they would like me to write, I'll include it into the storyline if it doesn't interfere with the overall plot. Because I don't want to rush this story, "filler" chapters are greatly needed since there's only so many things I can think of. T.T**

**Pleases and Thank you's to all!**

**~Cherry**


	10. Chapter 10

**Ok dears! This is going to be kinda short. I was getting ready to type up the Halloween chapter, and well, I suddenly remembered that Naruto's birthday was October 8****th****… ^^' At first I wasn't going to do this, but then I thought, I really need to because we all love Naruto and there needs to be a special chapter for him! So, without further ado, I bring you Naruto's (extremely belated =.=) Birthday chapter!**

**Oh, it's also from his point of view. **

**Enjoy!**

October 8.

Naruto really, really hated that date.

It was a painful reminder of all the hate and pain he endured as a kid, the unfair treatment that he had been given for so long. It seemed that everyone would glare harder, speak angrier, insult harsher on that day. No one had ever told him the reason why they hated him. Not even his own foster parents, Jiraiya and Tsunade. They just looked at him sadly and patted his head, or held him tightly and told him it was nothing.

But Naruto couldn't buy that.

How could an entire city hate someone who was barely old enough to understand the world around him, without having a reason to do so? So he went looking for that reason, and he found it.

And he'd hated them for it.

He'd hated his foster parents for not telling him anything, for making him believe for ten years that they were his real parents. He'd hated the city for blaming him for something he had no control over. He was only a baby, he hadn't meant any harm. He'd hated everyone. But the one person he had hated more so than anyone else, was the father he had never gotten to meet, who had been so beloved by everyone to the point of adoration. That man had had everything that Naruto had been deprived of, had had everything that Naruto wanted most. And when he had come home that night, as his so called "parents" were scolding him for being out so late without telling them, he snapped. He lashed back in anger at all the hate he had endured for the past ten years of his life. Every bit of pent up rage and frustration he'd bottled up over the years came flooding out, all in a torrent aimed straight at the two people he had ever known to actually care about him.

Jiraiya had found him at four in the morning in front of the Fourth's statue, half unconscious from the exhaustion of yelling his frustrations at it, eyes red and bloodshot from crying. It wasn't until later when Naruto had been brought home and safely put in bed that he bothered to ask Jiraiya why. Why he had cared at all, when everyone else hated him. Why he didn't hate him for taking away the man that was like a son to him. Why he wasn't angry for the things Naruto had said to him. Naruto had expected a "I had to" or "someone had to do it" or an "It's nothing."

He'd never expected a _"because that's what your father would have done."_

Jiraiya had told him then, all about his father. He'd told him about what kind of a person Minato was, how he cared for everyone in the city no matter who they were. He was always trying to make things better. Jiraiya told him about the Fourth's dreams of peace and how for a long time, he had achieved those dreams. He talked about how his parents couldn't wait for Naruto to be born and how much they had loved him already.

Jiraiya had also told him how much his father couldn't stand to see people hate. Minato had said that hate was a terrible thing and acted just like a virus. Once it got a hold of someone, it would spread like wildfire until it consumed its host. That was when Jiraiya handed Naruto a folded up piece of paper. It looked worn and faded and the creases looked ready to tear themselves apart from being opened so many times. Jiraiya told him that it was a letter that his father had written him long before his death, hoping that one day he could give it to Naruto himself. As Naruto had silently read the letter to himself, Jiraiya had quietly left the room.

Naruto couldn't help but smile sadly as he walked towards his sixth period English class. He had memorized the last few lines of his father's letter by heart and he knew that he would never forget them.

_Naruto, there's not enough paper in the world for me to write down every bit of advice I can think of to give to you. But there is enough space left for me to tell you the most important thing I've learned in life. Hopefully you will always remember it and live your life by it. _

_Don't live your life full of hatred towards others. Hate is something that can ruin your life if you let it. I've seen what hate can do to people. Believe me, you won't be happy if you let hate control you._

He remembered going back to the statue of Minato after he had read and reread that letter a dozen times that first night. Naruto had sat in front of it for what seemed like forever as he watched the sun rise and tried to sort out his thoughts and these new revelations.

In the shadow of his father's memory, Naruto had vowed to live a life free of hatred, just like his father wanted. Naruto would follow in his father's footsteps and love Konoha the way he did. He didn't care how long it would take, but he'd make everyone see that he was more than just a bad memory of what the city had lost. He would be the type of person that anyone could rely on. He'd made a promise to protect everything he held dear and he would never go back on that promise, or any promise he made.

The people of Konoha still treated Naruto pretty badly and it was hard for him to not hate them for their unfair treatment. But as he walked through the door of the classroom, Naruto couldn't help but think that it was all worth it as he saw his friends gathered around a single desk grinning madly and a short, pink-haired teenager standing in the center, holding up a cake in the shape of his namesake*****, all bombarding him with shouts of "happy birthday" and "surprise!".

And maybe this day wasn't so bad after all.

**Alrighty! This took me three days to write (mostly because I had absolutely no time to do it), and I'm kinda unhappy about the ending. I had it in my head yesterday, but now it's gone and I want to get this chapter over with. I have less than one week to make a total of four more chapters. Hopefully I can get them all up so that fourth one will be posted on Christmas Eve! I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it up that day though, because I'll be at my grandma's until the afternoon and then at my aunt's the rest of the night. But will just see where we are at that time. **

**Anyway, you guys know the drill! Read and Review, plot bunnies are welcomed, and I hope you guys are all enjoying the holidays!**

**Also:**

***in regards to what I meant by Naruto's "namesake". I have no idea how widely known this bit of information is, or how many people that are reading this fanfic know this, but "Naruto" is the name of a type of fish cake commonly found in ramen (Other details about his name can be found in the Shippuden chapters of the manga and/or online). So basically, the group made Naruto a birthday cake in the shape of a naruto. **

**~Cherry**


	11. Chapter 11

**Really short chapter; it's just something from Mouse's point of view. It takes place the same day as the previous one, but at a much later time.**

Mouse looked down from her perch on the tree branch at the large gathering below.

It was the night of the Kyuubi.

Most people would either be at work or out causing trouble. However, there were still those who gathered here, around the statue of the Yondaime, lighting candles and incense for their dear idol. The ground was littered with flowers and small charms, delivered throughout the course of the day by the citizens in respect. It was a strange tradition in the eyes of outsiders, but to the people it was a tradition seriously taken, and Mouse was no exception.

She dropped from the tree like a shadow, gliding forward into the crowd, awaiting her turn to pay her respects. Mouse didn't worry about getting caught; she had left her defining mask and cloak behind. No one knew that Akatsuki's fearsome leader was present and slowly drifting through their ranks. She quietly stood before the statue for a few moments before kneeling slightly to place a single rose on the ground. It was a bit of a signature rose, one that wasn't humanly possible to grow or make. The rose itself was pitch black; petals, stem, and all.

Mouse stood quickly and turned back to the crowd. As much as she respected Minato, she had a more important place to be. Quietly she slipped away from the gathering of people and away from the park. After a while she turned into a nearby alley and scaled the wall as quickly as she could. From her vantage point above the streets, Mouse made her way deeper into the city, leaping from the rooftops without a second thought. She had to hurry before visiting hours were over.

As she neared Konoha's hospital, Mouse dropped back down into the alleys, coming back out to join the people on the sidewalks. She kept her head down, face an emotionless mask like so many of the citizens passing by. She paused briefly in front of the hospitals glass doors before she stepped inside the lobby and took a quiet look around.

The receptionist on duty glanced up from her work and smiled softly as she recognized the girl. Mouse didn't worry about the recognition. She was completely anonymous without her mask, and went freely throughout the city without it. It made things much easier when no one knew who you were when you hid behind a mask. Therefore she gave the receptionist a small smile and continued past, ignoring the pity that radiated from the woman as her feet took her along the familiar path to the elevator. She rode in silence to the familiar floor and stepped out into the glaringly white hallways that always smelled too clean to her. Mouse nodded at the doctors that she recognized, but other than that continued silently down the hallway.

She stopped outside of a room, its door opened partially and lights dim on the inside. She could see the form of another doctor standing beside a bed, looking at a monitor and scribbling something occasionally on a clip board. Mouse knocked softly on the door as she stepped in, giving a soft nod as the doctor looked up at her and gave a slight smile. She had to refrain from clawing the man's eyes out as he gave her that pitying look she had come to associate with the doctors at this hospital.

"There hasn't been any change I'm afraid." He said to her as she came to a stop beside the bed. She looked down at the pale form in front of her, trying to keep her face void of emotion. Her eyes focused solely on the pale angular face of the boy. He was only two years older than her, but his withered appearance made him look so much younger in her eyes. Bright, yellow-blonde hair spilled across the pillow, dull and tangled from the months of neglect. Mouse tried to ignore the various wires and tubes connecting the boy to monitors and IV drips. She wished he was awake, smiling brightly at her with those blue eyes of his.

Swallowing past the lump forming in her throat, Mouse subconsciously wrapped her small fingers around a too bony hand. She fought off the emotions that began scrabbling at the corners of her sanity as she kept staring at the boy. She could absently feel that annoying sense of pity and sadness that came off the doctor next to her, and although she tried not to, her voice came out cold.

"I know."

Mouse noted the doctor flinch slightly at her voice. It didn't sound natural for such a cold, emotionless voice to come from someone so young after all. The man quickly recovered however and looked back down at his clipboard.

"Well, I'll let you visit for a few minutes before visiting hours are over." He turned away to leave but paused a moment. Hesitantly, he placed his hand on Mouse's head, giving her a reassuring smile but still radiated that feeling of pity.

God, Mouse wanted to kill him.

"Don't worry," he said gently, moving his hand to pat her shoulder. "If there's any change, I promise you'll be the first to know." Mouse kept her eyes glued to the body in front of her, refusing to acknowledge the doctor's reassurances. After a few moments of awkward silence, the doctor removed his hand with a final pat and walked to the door. Mouse stopped him as he was about to step out into the bright hallway.

"Thank you, doctor." She said lightly, edging her voice with as much meekness as she could bring herself to fake. It was evidently enough, for Mouse heard telltale shifting of the doctor's head nodding before he left, closing the door behind him. Mouse remained standing for a few minutes afterwards, batting away the painful emotions raging up her throat, taking deep breathes through her nose trying to rid herself of the familiar tightness. She would not cry, not here, not ever, not when there was a camera in the corner watching her. So she did the only thing she could make herself do, just like in all the other visits.

She pulled the nearest chair up to the bed and sat down.

Mouse let out a loud sigh, allowing herself to show the signs of fatigue she hid. The past few weeks had been getting very difficult, and with the approaching date, they hadn't been any easier. Finally, today had come and Mouse had kept to herself as much as she could. Mouse leaned her elbows against her knees and rested her head in her hands. She didn't want to hear any words of sympathy from her organization; she didn't want to feel their pity. She was so tired of people pitying her like that. She was just too drained right now. Mouse had even considered not coming tonight, thinking it would be too much for her already tired mind to take. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. Afterall, it had been a year to the day that _that_ incident had happened.

The young teenager lifted her head back up again, staring through half-lidded eyes at the pale boy before her. Silently, she reached forward and brushed a few blonde strands of hair away from his eyes, wishing for the millionth time that those same eyelids would flutter open and those brilliant blue eyes would look up at her like they always did. She paused for a moment and her mind focused on an outlandish and childish thought that drifted through her mind.

Mouse scowled, chastising herself for even thinking of something so foolish. But in the end, her shoulders slumped in exhaustion. Ah what the hell, she'd give it a shot. The girl closed her eyes tightly, wishing that the blonde haired boy would wake up, wanting nothing more for that to happen, especially considering what day it was, after all. But as always, her wish went unheard. Mouse opened snorted in unladylike fashion, leaning back in her chair and letting her body slump down. Of course it didn't work, why should it? It didn't matter that today was special.

A bitter smile crossed Mouse's lips as she tilted her head back and stared up at the ceiling, blinking back the tiny pinpricks at the edge of her eyes. She let out a short, humorless chuckle before shaking her head and looking down at her hands folded neatly into her hoodie pocket. Mouse opened her mouth, letting the bitter feeling spread throughout her body, feeling her insides going numb slowly from lack of sleep and the emotional drain of everything that had been going on. Her voice came out soft and low, creeping along the traditional tune like some creepy children's lullaby, fading away at the end.

_Happy birthday to me._

_Happy birthday to me…_

Oh, the irony.

**Well, that's all you guys are getting out of this chapter. I wonder if any of you guys can guess who the new guy is. ;) I didn't want to make it very obvious who it was but I think you could figure it out. I'm going to refrain from giving a hint, because that would honestly give it away. **

**I think I really need to interact with my readers more, so if you want, leave a comment telling me who you think is who in Akatsuki (yes, I know most of them are extremely easy to figure out. But some of them aren't… ..) or just leave a comment about anything and I'll respond. **

**EDIT: I added a better ending to this chapter. I didn't realize until now that I had actually left out one of the major points to this chapter, so I had to go back and add it in… ^^'**

**~Cherry**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here's the (extremely belated) Halloween special chapter! Also, it's time for a disclaimer! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything else that might be owned by someone in this story. They belong to their respective owners. **

"Sakura, damn it, quit moving! You're going to make me mess up!" Yoko said angrily as she wrapped her hand around the younger girl's chin, yanking her face forward again. Sakura scrunched her face at Yoko, eyeing the charcoal black pencil poised in her roommates hand.

"I can't help it! It tickles whenever somebody else puts on my eyeliner!" Sakura pouted in protest. The look Yoko gave her promised several bad things to happen, so the younger girl cast one last glare at the offending object before slouching back into her earlier position. Yoko kept her hand on the girl's forehead as she tilted her head back and tried to finish the details around Sakura's eyes. After more blinking and arguing, the black haired girl finally finished adding the eye decal and stepped back to view her handy work.

"All done!" She chirped brightly, letting Sakura spin around in her chair to look at the results in the mirror.

"Ooh it looks so cool!" Said teenager grinned madly. Yoko had used a white eyeshadow to "extend" the white part of Sakura's eyes. Her eyes now looked incredibly doll-like, wide and ringed in feathery eyelashes. Sakura noted that if it hadn't been for the shockingly bright pink and white hair that threw everything off, her reflection looked startlingly creepy. Perfect.

Sakura turned back around to face Yoko, grinning from ear to ear. She set still as the older girl finished applying the make-up to her face, giving the rest of her a marionette-style look. Finally, she laid down the smudging brush as she finished applying the mouth lines.

"There we go; finished." Yoko said as she set her hands on her hips. Sakura hopped off the chair without looking in the mirror and nearly skipped out of the bathroom. She headed over to the two wardrobes that the girls split their clothes between and opened up the one on the right. She pulled out a plastic bag that contained her costume. Sakura barely managed to keep in the squeal that kept threatening to break out. She couldn't help it, really! Halloween was her favorite holiday, and she was very excited that the whole group was actually going around trick-or-treating this year.

Sakura slipped into her costume and walked over to where Hinata stood in front of the mirror, admiring her own handmade costume. The pinkette had to admit, Hinata had an amazing talent for sewing. She had made her own costume, as well as Yoko's and Sakura's, working very late to get them finished in time. Hinata turned to the side to look at a new angle of the dress.

The pale pink fabric fell down to about two feet from the floor. Two long, black ribbons ran down the length of the dress, cinching the end of the pink layer into a slight curve. A white, ruffled, two-layered petticoat fell the rest of the length to the floor, hiding black high heels. A white ruffle with a black ribbon through it ran around the top of the dress, resting snuggly against Hinata's arms. In the center of the ruffle was a big black and white striped bow that covered her chest, a pink flower acting as a broach. Around her slim neck was another piece of ruffled lace with a light pink ribbon striking through it.*

To top it all of Hinata wore a pink top hat with a curved up rim edged in black. A white sash went around the top part and tied into a bow along the side. The hat dipped down over her eye, and a ring of pink roses wreathed the underside of the hat, obscuring one of her pale, lavender-shaded eyes. Her bangs framed her face while the rest of her hair was pulled up into two high pigtails, silky ends curled slightly. Her make-up was done in similar fashion to Sakura's. If it hadn't been for the fact that Hinata would turn every few seconds, Sakura would swear that she was a life-size marionette doll. Well, that technically was the point. It was still pretty creepy though…

Sakura softly nudged Hinata's arm, politely telling her to quit being a damn mirror hog. Hinata started slightly, unaware of Sakura's quiet approach, but smiled softly after a few moments and stepped aside. Sakura smiled back and picked up the pair of black silk gloves that would reach to the middle of Hinata's upper arm, handing them to the other girl. Hinata took them with a nod and Sakura turned her attention to the mirror to take in her appearance.

Her own dress was simply alternating black and white in color. The collar was a simple uniform one, with black and white lace ruffles extending out around it to cover the chest piece of the dress. Two small white bows were attached in even spaces to the black upper portion of the torso; the bottom half was white. The shoulder sleeves were slightly poofed with a white lace band around the bottoms. The rest of the sleeves were also white and flared at the bottom, each ending in a lacey ruffle well past her fingertips. The skirt fell to her shins in a soft black material, four strips of lace placed evenly around its circumference. Sakura had donned a pair of white stockings and black baby doll shoes to finish off the ensemble. Her hair was pulled down and framed her face delicately, straightened with precisionistic care. The hot pink that made up the majority of her hair was the only bit of color in her costume.**

Sakura stood stock still as she continued to stare at her reflection. Her now twice as big eyes (thanks to Yoko's make-up skills and Youtube tutorial) stared back unblinkingly at her from the mirror. She saw Hinata twitch uncomfortably at the no doubt creepy site and turned her owlish gaze towards the blue-black haired girl. With a squeal of excitement that had been pent up all day she nearly tackled Hinata in a hug, jumping slightly as she did so.

"It's gorgeous Hina-boo!" Sakura bubbled, squeezing her friend tightly. "It looks just like something a doll would wear!"

"Well yeah," Hinata laughed, squeezing her roommate back. "It's based off of Lolita, of course it's gonna look doll-y." The two grinned before turning to rush (as quickly as they could in their dresses) towards the remaining wardrobe wear Yoko's dress was kept. Hinata gingerly pulled it off of the rack of clothing and cradled it in her arms to the bathroom. Sakura tapped on the door and opened it as she stuck her head in.

"Yo, here's your costume!" She said brightly, withdrawing so Hinata could hand over the dress. Yoko took the dress carefully from Hinata, holding it away from the counter covered in various items of make-up and hung it on top of the door.

"Alright, gimme just a few more minutes," she called. "I gotta finish my make-up" Hinata and Sakura absently called back affirmation to her before turning back to the full length mirror on the wall again. After a few minutes the bathroom door opened up and Yoko stepped out, padding across the carpet to the mirror. Sakura and Hinata both stepped sideways to allow the elder girl to get a full view of herself.

Yoko's costume was the simplest of all three. It was a soft beige-y pink color, very thick to help fight off the cool air. It was a very simple British style waistcoat, with two pockets on the side. A short, fur trimmed shawl wrapped around her shoulders, giving the outfit a slight Russian and aristocratic look. A maroon bow held the shawl closed at the top.*** Yoko's black hair was curled gently and fell to the small of her back; a Russian white-furred cap sat atop her head.

Sakura thought to herself that Yoko really fit the aristocratic look. It was simple, efficient, and very elegant, a style that accentuated the older girl's personality. Yoko seemed to think so as well, for she gave a nod and a quick smile before turning to Hinata and giving her a hug.

"It's perfect!" Yoko exclaimed as she drew back. "Very nice." Hinata blushed at the praise and nodded shyly.

"Th-thanks." She breathed softly. "I'm glad you two like them!" Yoko grinned and patted Hinata's head before she walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of white winter boots with fur around the top. She slipped them over here white stockings and got back up.

"Ready to go then?" She asked, hands placing themselves on her hips.

"You bet!" Sakura chirped, running over to her very unmade bed and yanking the pillow out of its cover. She skipped back over to her roommates and smiled brightly.

"You're really taking a pillow case to carry candy in?" Hinata deadpanned. Sakura paused, placing her finger delicately on her bottom lip.

"Yep!"

"Whatever…"

oooooOOOOOooooo

Temari finished placing the purple wig in place, making sure that none of her honey blonde hair was peeking out of the hair net it had been forced in to. Satisfied with her reflection, she turned her attention to the annoying voice shouting at her from the other side of the locked bathroom door.

"OI! Temari! Quit hogging the damn bathroom! Some of us actually need to get ready!" Ino's perpetually annoying voice screeched over the loud bangs of her fist on the door. Temari sighed irritably, forcing down her rising temper. She honestly couldn't stand the Yamanaka brat. She was a spoiled, rich brat who was used to the ways of upper society and obviously had never been anything but an only child. Temari unlocked the door and threw it open, giving the annoying blonde her worst glare.

"Alright!" She yelled angrily. "Quit making such a racket, I'm out of the bathroom!" She crossed her arms across her chest and kept glaring. Ino had obviously stopped thinking for a moment because she was standing completely frozen, hand poised to bang on the door again and mouth hung open in surprise.

"What?" Temari snapped, tapping her foot impatiently. She had a pretty good idea at what had gotten the girl to shut up, but wasn't in the mood to not pick a fight with Ino. Temari didn't have long to wait before Ino shook herself out of her frozen stupor and smirked hotly at Temari.

"And what are _**you**_ supposed to be?" She said smugly. Temari could feel the vein above her eyebrow begin to twitch in irritation.

"My _costume,_" She ground out through her teeth. "Is an anime character. But of course," here, Temari smirked back. "You wouldn't know a damn thing about it, Princess." Ino tossed her long ponytail over her shoulder, brushing harshly past the senior on her way into the bathroom.

"Of _course _not," she drawled snobbishly. "I'm not one who indulges in such childish and incredibly stupid shows. I'm _much_ too old for something for a _**child**_." With that, she closed the bathroom door in Temari's face. The older girl opened her mouth to shout something filled with several choice and profane words at the pompous bitch she had as a roommate when she was interrupted by a bored voice.

"You might as well give it a rest Tema-chan." Tenten said from her spot on her neatly made bed. The brunette had yet to change into her Halloween costume and was instead flipping through a martial arts magazine. Her brown hair was shockingly hanging loose and fell over the shoulders of the football jersey she wore. Temari raised her eyebrow delicately.

"I hope that's not you're costume," the senior said lightly. "Cuz if it is, it really sucks." Tenten looked up irately at Temari, snapping to the next page of her magazine.

"No, it's not." She lightly growled, eyeing Temari's costume as she said this. "I unfortunately am being forced to wear something else and would like to spend the least amount of time possible in it." Temari nodded with a knowing look after a moment.

"That blonde she-devil making you?" She asked, pitying welling up inside. Tenten scowled and went back to reading furiously.

"Yes." Temari shook her head sadly and went over to check her reflection in the full length mirror hanging beside Ino's bed. She admired her handiwork on the costume, glad that it looked rather decent for something that was handmade.

"I wish my costume was at least something like yours…" Tenten said wistfully behind her. Temari looked over her shoulder at the junior staring longingly at the bright orange shirt tied around Temari's torso.

"What is she making you go as?" She asked curiously. Tenten took on a pitiful look and just shook her head, obviously to stricken to admit her costume. Temari would have pressed the girl if not for Ino opening the door, dropping several items onto the floor outside with a loud clatter and just as quickly retreating behind the door again, locking the door with an audible _click._ Temari swore loudly and stomped over to the bathroom door, stooping to exam the various items of make-up, hairspray, and Temari's very expensive (and only) hair straightener. She straightened for a moment and angrily slammed her foot into the door, ignoring the stab of pain that shot through her toes as she yelled.

"I swear if you broke my straightener, I'm going to flat-iron that ugly maw you call your face! Do you have any idea how much this damn thing cost!" Temari aimed one more kick into the bottom of the door, absently wondering how it was still intact after her constant abuse throughout being roommates with Ino. She scooped up her things and stormed back to her bed, half throwing them down in frustration. Tenten was staring at the door, an unreadable expression on her face before she shook her head with a sigh.

"Stupid, prissy, ungrateful, fucking _bitch…_!" Temari muttered under her breath as she flopped onto a bean bag, arms and legs crossing tightly. The senior glared crossly at the floor. A moment later she heard a door open and looked up, ready to unleash her full wrath on Ino's pretty face. However, the figure walking into the room was not the object of the girl's irritation, but the unfortunate freshman that was forced to room with them. The younger girl quailed slightly under Temari's furious glare and flinched slightly when Temari spat crossly.

"What the hell do you want kid?" The girl stared slightly wide-eyed at Temari, a fact that annoyed her greatly.

"Well?" She drummed her fingers impatiently along her arm. Tenten looked up boredly from her magazine to see who the unfortunate recipient of Temari's temper was.

"Oi, give the kid a break Tem," Tenten said, casting an exasperated look in her direction. "I know you're pissed at Ino, but sheesh…" Temari shot a glare towards the brunette before scowling again.

"Whatever." She stated bluntly, glaring at the wall. She absently saw the freshman girl inching into the room and hurriedly grabbing something from her wardrobe. A slight tinge of guilt ate at Temari's consciousness for snapping at the girl. The unfortunate freshman had tried to be nice to her older roommates and was obviously uncomfortable with the living arrangements, especially once she discovered that Ino and Temari hated each other with a very livid passion. The girl usually kept out of the room and rarely was there if she wasn't sleeping, and even then she looked as if she'd rather be elsewhere. Casting a seemingly indifferent glance in the girl's direction, Temari nonchalantly tried to make conversation with her out of pity.

"So, are you getting a costume for the Halloween party…?" She asked lightly. Their roommate didn't respond and Temari was about to snap at her again when realization dawned on her. The girl probably had no idea that she was the one being addressed.

"Oi, kid," Temari said louder, turning her head to look at the freshman fully this time. The girl seemed to realize that she was indeed being spoken to and turned around to look at Temari apprehensively.

"Y-yeah…?" She asked, eyes not meeting the older girl's.

"I asked if you were getting your Halloween costume for the party." The girl nodded her head after a moment, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. Temari wasn't any better off, suddenly stricken with the awkwardness of it.

"So, uh…What is it?" Temari's eyes flicked over to the wall, trying to continue their line of conversation. The girl shyly complied by holding up the bundle of clothing in her arms, the cloth tumbling down.

"It's supposed to be an Alice in Wonderland costume…" The girl said shyly. Temari looked over the costume, which consisted of a blue and white short dress with a checker board print underneath the skirt, the ends of a black laces petticoat peeking out from underneath. A pair of black and white striped stockings was in one of the girl's hands as well. Temari smiled slightly and gave the girl a nod.

"I like Alice in Wonderland, it was a good movie."

The girl smiled shyly in return and began scuffing her feet slightly. After a few minutes of awkward silence in which Temari returned to staring at the wall, the girl's quiet voice spoke up.

"So, um, w-what are you supposed to be?" Temari looked over to the girl, surprise lighting up her features. It took her a moment to reply.

"Yoruichi." She answered blankly. She shook her head and elaborated. "She's a character from an anime I like." The girl nodded in response, a soft "oh" dying on her lips. A few more seconds of awkward silence passed before the bathroom door was suddenly opened. All three girls looked up to see their fourth roommate step out of the bathroom, adjusting her costume.

"Ah hell nah." Ino's head jerked up as the words left Temari's lips, shooting an irritated glare towards her.

"What's your problem, Sabaku?" the blonde snapped, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. Temari stared pointedly at Ino's outfit for a moment before a smirk graced her lips.

"Actually, no," she said airily. "It rather suits you." Ino placed her hands on her hips, continuing to level an icy glare.

"And what is _that_ supposed to mean?" She ground out. Temari appraised the other girls' costume again.

"Well, you act like a whore half the time, so you dressing up like a playboy bunny makes sense." A coughing sound caught the two girls' attention and they looked over to see Tenten with her fist half shoved into her mouth, eyes screwed shut tightly. Ino sent a glare towards her friend before huffing and turning towards her bed. At that moment, the blonde caught sight of the newest arrival standing completely still, eyes widened to the point of comedic horror at Ino's costume. Ino pointedly looked the girl up and down.

"Who are you and why are you in here?" She stated rather rudely to the girl, foot beginning to tap impatiently at the girl's lack of response. Tenten had managed to get over her fit and sat up on her elbows, giving Ino a blank stare.

"Dude, she's our roommate." Ino blinked and stared at the girl again.

"We had another roommate?" Temari rolled her eyes. Leave it to that ditz to forget something like another roommate.

"She's hardly ever in here because she doesn't want to listen to you bitch all the time." Temari smirked, enjoying the scowl that marred Ino's face.

"Please," Ino retorted. "She's probably terrified of you and your overbearing rudeness. Maybe if you didn't look so damn rough and creepy all the time, she'd actually be able to stay in here." Temari's smirk was replaced by an angry glare as she sat up straighter. She was about to yell back that Ino could take her opinion and shove it up her trampy ass when their younger roommate cut in.

"Er, actually, it's both of you. You guys are kind of annoying when you start fighting and all. I can't do any homework and you both come off as rather overbearing and bitchy." The whole room was dead silent for a few heartbeats as they stared at the freshman girl kicking her heels against the floor.

Without warning, Tenten and Temari erupted into roars of laughter. Ino whirled around with an offended look on her face, storming back towards the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind her. Temari managed to cough out between fits of laughter at the girl who now stood there awkwardly, looking for the entire world like she wanted to just sink through the floorboards at that moment.

"Ya-ya know, kid," Temari giggled. "You're not half-bad for a-for a freshie!"

oooooOOOOOooooo

"Oi, Gaara! Get out of the bathroom!" Kankurou shouted as he pounded on the door. It had been twenty minutes and the brooding red head still hadn't finished getting ready. Naruto really didn't pay much more attention to the older brunette yelling at the door as he sat trying to wriggle away from the teenager before him.

"Sit still Dickless, this won't take long." Sai said monotonously, reaching forward again with one hand, a brush in the other.

"Noooo…!" Naruto whined, leaning as far away from the other boy as he could. "You're gonna put weird stuff on my face!" Kiba turned around in his desk chair and chuncked a rolled up object at Naruto.

"OI! Shut up and let him do whatever it is he's supposed to be doing!" The Inuzuka boy said loudly. Naruto glared over at his friend, scooping up Kiba's rolled up socks and flinging them back.

"No."

"Dickless, do you want to have a good Halloween costume or not?" Sai asked boredly. Naruto looked helplessly at him, head finally bowing in defeat.

"Fine." The black haired boy held up Naruto's head and after staring thoughtfully at it for a moment, began to brush the make-up paint onto it. Naruto scrunched his face as he felt the cold, sticky substance touch his skin and he tried to pull away. Sai's grip on the top of his head tightened, however, preventing the blonde boy from squirming away. Finally the boy seemed satisfied with his handiwork and released Naruto's head, leaning back to give the face paint one final look.

"That should do it." Sai stated bluntly as he stood up. Naruto jumped up with a relieved shout, rushing over to the bathroom door. He tripped over his foot and nearly fell headfirst into the wood, managing to catch himself by slamming his hands against the door.

"OIGAARAGETOUTOFTHEBATHROOM!" Naruto shouted in one breath, pounding on the door. Said door suddenly swung open and an irritated, dead-white Gaara glared out from the door frame.

".?" Gaara dropped each word in his gravely, low voice. Naruto paused for a moment, taking in the boy's appearance. A moment later he was bouncing into the bathroom, shouting excitedly and asking what Gaara was supposed to be. To Kankurou's amazement, Gaara didn't throw something at the over reactive Uzumaki boy, and instead calmly told him that he was a vampire. Naruto paused once more and stared thoughtfully off into space.

"It fits." He declared with a decisive nod, whirling around to view his reflection in the mirror above the single sink. He shouted in surprise and awe as he saw what it was that Sai had painted on his face. The young artist had painted Naruto's lips black and thickening the whisker markings on his face. Sai had then painted around the edge of Naruto's face in red and black, making it appear as if there was a dark skin of blood reaching up to cover his features. The red, cat-like contacts that they had spent most of the afternoon trying to get in his eyes along with his hair being forced to lay down by copious amounts of hair gel gave Naruto a wild, feral look. A little case with four fake fangs to complete the look rested on the corner of the sink, his name scrawled across it in black sharpie. Together with the orange, white-tipped ears that went with the ensemble, Naruto's costume would resemble a fox.

The idea for the costume had surprisingly come from Sai. The other boy had said that because Naruto was born on the Night of the Kyuubi, it made him the most reasonable choice to dress up like the Kyuubi, an entity known for its foxlike appearance. Naruto, even more surprisingly, thought the idea was brilliant and went along with it. He could care less if anyone gave him disapproving looks for his costume idea; this was a costume too good to pass up.

With a grin, Naruto placed the artificial fangs into his mouth and dashed out of the bathroom, sliding across the carpet in his socks to where Sai was sitting picking up his make-up kit. A few feet away from the black haired boy, Naruto let his momentum carry him tumbling to the ground, tackling the other boy with a loud yelp.

"THANKYOUITLOOKSAWESOME!" Naruto yelled at the top of his voice, completely oblivious to the very disturbed looks he was receiving. Sai managed to push Naruto out to arm's length and held him there, eyeing him widely.

"Don't ever do that again." He stated bluntly. "And don't move around so much or rub your face. You'll mess it all up before it dries." Naruto nodded vigorously, grin plastered across his features as he jumped up and looked around for something to do. His now bright red eyes fell upon the furry white mass next to Kiba who was fixing something onto its head. Naruto walked over to get a better look at Akamaru.

"So what are you two supposed to be?" he asked, bending down to get a good look at the giant dog. A black diamond shape had been painted on to the center of Akamaru's forehead and each of his paws had been dipped into black paint. Two stripes were added to his bushy white tail as well. Kiba sat back, finished with attaching a pair of black ears to the top of Akamaru's head.

"Well, I'm supposed to be a demon slayer, and Akamaru here is that cat thing from Inuyasha." The brunette said absentmindedly, messing with the fake ears again. Naruto nodded, not really sure what Kiba was talking about, but pretended like he did nonetheless. The blonde looked over at Kiba to examine his costume. The other teenager was wearing a full body black suit with simple yellow-green armor covering his elbows and torso, tied together with green ribbon. Naruto let his attention wander around the room again, trying to get a better look at everyone's costumes. His red lensed eyes fell on the form of the other brunette across the room, lounging in a chair with his feet up on a cluttered desk. Naruto looked closely at the intricate costume he was wearing, trying to figure out who he was supposed to be.

Kankuro was wearing a black jacket that had a double row of silver buttons running down the front, with a silver broach on the left side that had a chain reaching over to the other, connecting it to three black roses. The white under shirt had an upturned collar with a black ribbon tied around it and the ends poofed out of the jacket's sleeves and back, long and ruffled. The boy was also wearing a pair of black shorts that ended just above his knees and grey knee high socks with a pair of fancy black shoes that looked like the belonged in a time period way before the present.

To top of the outfit, he was wearing a black high top hat, tied with a black sash and adorned with two black roses. Naruto could barely see the black eye patch over his right eye. He thought at first that Kankuro was dressed as a pirate due to the eye patch, but thought that the costume was too dressy to be that. Kankuro was twirling a black cane through black gloved hands and the blonde noticed a blue ring flashing on his thumb. Naruto continued to scrutinize the costume but finally gave up.

"Oi, who are you supposed to be anyway?" Naruto asked. Kankuro looked up boredly and pointed to himself silently after a few seconds. Naruto nodded slowly, matching the boy's expression evenly.

"I'm supposed to be a puppeteer, but it ended up looking more like Ceil Phantomhive from Kuroshitsuji." Naruto stared blankly at the older teen's response. A few moments, the name clicked.

"Oh wait, you mean the blue-haired kid from the show that Sakura and Hinata-chan are obsessed with?"

"…Yes." Kankuro replied. Naruto nodded in understanding, going back to looking around the room. Gaara had left the bathroom about the same time as Naruto had and was now laying on his bed staring boredly (murderously in Naruto's opinion) at the ceiling. The door to the bathroom opened up and Naruto looked over to see Sai emerging dressed in an elegant butler's costume. Naruto noted the dark red contacts Sai was now wearing.

"And you are…?"

"A butler." Naruto blanched at the simple reply.

"Well I know _that."_

"Then why did you ask? Do I need to change your nickname from 'dickless' to 'brainless'?" A vein twitched above Naruto's right eye as he stared through narrow eyes at the black haired boy. Sai just smiled and kept going.

"If you must know, it was Sakura-chan's idea. Well, it was really mine, but Sakura helped and took all the credit." Naruto shook his head after a while.

"Whatever…" the blonde muttered crossly. "Are you guys ready or what?"

"Sure." Kankuro got up and stretched leisurely, looking around the room in expectation for the others. Sai walked towards the door as Kiba stood as well and hopped on to Akamaru's back. Naruto followed Kankuro to the door and cast a look over his shoulder, making sure the final room member was following as well. A moment passed before Naruto broke the short silence.

"'The hell'd Gaara go?"

Four heads looked back into the room with curious looks plastered on their faces. Silently, they all studied the room but found no signs of the brooding ginger anywhere. They all stepped back inside, different levels of scowls crossing their features as they looked for the missing boy. After a few minutes of calling and looking under piles of clothing, the boys were surprised by a dark voice coming from the doorway.

"What are you morons doing?" The four boys looked up in shock.

They hadn't noticed Gaara leave the room.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Neji sighed irately, wishing for all the world that he didn't have such an irksome roommate. Really, it was unbelievable the amount of idiocy that the other junior possessed. The Hyuuga rubbed his temples, trying to rid himself of the oncoming headache that he felt.

"You are not seriously considering wearing that embarrassing costume in public are you?" Lee turned back towards the brown haired teen at the sound of his irritated voice.

"Of course!" Lee nearly yelled, a grin flashing across his face, eyes peering out from underneath his shaggy black hair. Neji subconsciously wished for eternal damnation on the hairstyle; in his opinion, it was not fit for a man to hide his face underneath unkempt hair. He wished not for the first time that Lee hadn't listened to that annoying pink haired girl and let her change his appearance. The black haired boy turned around, grabbing the end of his cape and swirling it around behind him dramatically.

Neji rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to slam his head against the wall. He couldn't believe that Lee was seriously going to go along with the others' plan of attending the school's Halloween party and going out trick-or-treating as well. Not to mention he was going to go dressed as a superhero. A mumbled voice spoke to Neji, followed by the sound of a crinkling chip bag.

"Ah, lighten up a bit Neji-san." Chouji said from where he perched on his crumb covered bed, a bag of BBQ chips clasped tightly in his fingers. Neji eyed the younger, brown haired boy, who happily ignored the Hyuuga and continued to eat. The Akamichi boy was wearing a pair of khaki shorts and a yellow shirt, with a green sleeveless jacket. His shoes were opened toed sandals that looked to have some kind of clawed animal's "foot" around them. Neji cleared his throat and asked as delicately as he could.

"And what exactly are you supposed to be?" Neji said through slightly clenched teeth, trying to be a cordial as he could to the younger teen. Chouji looked up at the Hyuuga boy and tilted his head to the side, a few chips held between his teeth.

"I'm a bear." Neji stopped at the short reply. A bear? Why anyone would choose that as a Halloween costume was beyond him. So Neji settled for a shake of his head and turned his pale white gaze over to the figure stretched out on the neighboring, unmade bed, a shogi book across his face.

"Please tell me that _you_, of all people, are not joining in on this ridiculous holiday." He asked sardonically, hoping that his so called "genius" roommate was more mature than the other two. Unfortunately, his hopes were crushed when a bored, muffled voice spoke from under the book.

"It's troublesome, but yes, I am." Chouji laughed lightly and stuffed another handful of chips in his mouth.

"Yeah, his girlfriend is making him come. She even got him to dress up!" Neji felt his eyebrow twitch. He didn't particularly like the eldest transfer student from Suna, preferring Shikamaru's old girlfriend, Ino, more. At least she had decent manners, unlike Temari who was crude and never could quite understand that as a girl, there were some things she couldn't do. Quite similar to another girl he knew…

Neji was broken from his absent reverie by Lee standing very close to him, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Yoohoo, Neji-san, are you in there?" Lee asked in a slight sing-song voice, staring curiously into the Hyuuga's face. Neji jerked back, slightly disturbed by the close proximity. Lee seemed unperturbed by Neji's reaction and a bright grin broke across his face.

"Oh, good, you're okay." Neji scowled at the other junior, crossing his arms across his chest.

"What do you want now?" He asked, annoyance clearly flickering across his face. Lee tilted his head and stared at Neji.

"Well, you kinda got that vacant look you get when you're either thinking really hard or thinking about Tenten." Neji spluttered slightly at the offhanded comment and felt his cheeks warm slightly.

"I was not thinking about that annoying girl." He spat out, recovering slightly. Lee just grinned ever wider.

"Suuure…" He said sarcastically, turning towards the door. "Anyway, we're gonna be late meeting up with everyone. You sure you don't want to come, Neji-san?"

"Yes, I am perfectly sure." The brunette bit out sharply, moving to sit down at his desk. Chouji shrugged and got up, nudging Shikamaru lightly as he did so.

"Suit yourself then Hyuuga," he said as he walked towards the door, grabbing a furry hat topped with bear ears and putting it on his head. "Guess you won't get to see what Tenten's costume is. I hear it's gonna turn some heads at the party." Neji pretended to ignore his roommates, trying not to worry about what kind of costume the dun-headed girl would wear that could possibly make people look at her in any way.

"What is Tenten's costume anyway?" Lee asked curiously, closing the door behind him. Just before it clicked shut, Neji caught Shikamaru's lazy, irritated voice answering bluntly.

"Catwoman."*

For the second time that night, Neji Hyuuga lost his composure, sputtering wildly as he nearly choked on his own spit. He tried to quickly erase the onslaught of images of Tenten wearing such an outfit. There was no way in _Hell, _even if said place was frozen over, that Tenten would ever allow herself to wear something like _**that. **_Honestly, whose idea was it to subject the poor sophomore to that kind of scrutiny? A few seconds later he was walking swiftly down the hallway, an irritated expression on his face as he told the other three to hurry up. He completely missed the three smirks aimed at his back.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Sasuke stood in front of his bathroom mirror, attempting to flatten the back of his hair. He had been trying unsuccessfully for the past half hour. With a sigh, he gave up and wandered back into his room. The black haired teen stood in the middle of the slightly messy room, looking around and trying to think of an excuse to get out of going to the Halloween party that Suigetsu and Karin had insisted on dragging him to. When nothing came to him, he let out another exasperated sigh and left his room, closing the door behind him. As he stepped out into the hallway, Suigetsu came out across the hall, attempting to fix a black tie around his neck.

Sasuke arched a delicate eyebrow and glanced at his "brother's" attire. The white haired boy was dressed in a black pinstriped suit, a solid red shirt underneath. His normally well-kept hair was tousled and spiked to the side, reminding Sasuke irritably of an old teacher he knew. Suigetsu glared angrily at the offending tie gripped tightly in his hands and swore under his breath, giving up on attempting to tie it. Sasuke rolled his eyes, going over to Karin's room and kicking the bottom edge of the door.

"Are you ready yet? I want to get this over with." The young teen called irritably through the door. He backed away as the door knob turned and swung open. Sasuke flinched as his eyes were assaulted by an overbearing amount of red. He absently heard Suigetsu utter a shocked 'woah' as the two stared at Karin's costume.

The red head had left her hair down, new extensions evening out the hairstyle until it reached to her knees. She was wearing her favorite pair of black shorts that hardly could be deemed as such, and a pair of knee-high, open toed boots. Her shirt consisted of something that appeared to be a cross between a maid and a butler's shirt, and a bright red jacket hung loosely off her elbows. A pair of black gloves covered her hands. Her normally black rimmed glasses were now blood red and a small skull-decorated chain connected the legs to each other around her neck. She caught Sasuke staring in mild surprise at the extremely different costume and smiled coyly.

"You like?" She purred. "I thought I'd try something different this year." She sauntered out in to the hallway, ignoring Suigetsu's presence entirely as she steeped closer to Sasuke.

"Are you not dressing up?" She pouted lightly. Sasuke's eye twitched slightly at her annoying tone.

"No." He said bluntly, stepping away and heading past her. "Help Suigetsu fix that stupid tie of his." He commanded as he half stomped towards Jugo's room. He was a few feet away when Suigetsu's voice stopped him.

"He's not going to come out of there, so don't bother." Sasuke cast a bored glance over his shoulder. Suigetsu was standing slightly bent over, face fixated on Sasuke intently. Karin was standing slightly on her toes, hands frozen in the middle of fixing the tie around Suigetsu's neck, head craned around to stare at him as well. The black haired boy shrugged and turned away from the door, heading to the other end of the hallway.

"Whatever." Was all he said before disappearing around the corner. As he was walking away, he heard Suigetsu wondering out loud to himself.

"Wonder what Juugo does in there all the time."

"Who knows." Came Karin's sardonic reply. A few moments of silence passed before it was broken again.

"Ya know, Juugo's been living with us longer than I can remember, and I don't think we've ever seen the inside of his room."

"Fascinating… There, it's fixed." Sasuke heard footsteps following him as he entered the living room, picking his shoes up from beside the couch. He would never admit it out loud, but Suigetsu had a bit of a point. In all the years that Sasuke had been living with them, he had never gone into Juugo's room, or even caught a glimpse inside of it since the door was always closed. Come to think of it, Sasuke couldn't remember ever wanting to go in the other's room. It was as if the subject of the room had been taboo to them all from the very start.

The black haired teenager shook himself from his thoughts. It didn't matter to him that Juugo was secretive and hardly social. He himself had his secrets and (for good reasons) hardly interacted with people. He knew how irritating it was to have people invading on his life, especially when you lived with someone like Karin. So he would leave Juugo to his habits and not dwell on the curiosities.

He had a party to suffer through.

oooooOOOOOooooo

A sharp, icy wind blew far above Konoha's glittering lights. It's blustering dance blew back Mouse's bangs and caused her jacket to whip around behind her with loud, snapping sounds. The lights from the skyscraper beneath her cast shadows over her animal mask. Mouse currently stood atop one of Konoha's prominent business corporations, arms crossed tightly across her chest as she looked across the empty air in front of her at their target. She tried to push back the anxiety gnawing at her stomach by reviewing their carefully constructed plan one last time. It was simple, get in, grab the item, and get the hell out. Of course, there was a hell of a mess of complicated details in there too.

Mouse wanted to get this over with. It was bad enough that they were wasting time and possibly lives for this mission, now she had some unexplainable anxiety to deal with. Well, it wasn't exactly unexplainable.

Halloween was one of Mouse's least favorite holidays. It wasn't the holiday itself per se, just the fact that for some reason, people chose that night of all nights to cause a shitload of mischief.

Vampires were no exception.

Actually, they were the exact reason why Mouse hated this holiday so much. Just the thought of all the damage that could be done while they were busy here sent her insides coiling tightly.

She couldn't explain why, but it was as if all vampires had this unexplained urge to be more active on Halloween. They suddenly became more viscous, violent, and bold. It wasn't a surprise that more people tended to die on Halloween night in Konoha. It also didn't help that most of Akatsuki was actually an organization made up almost entirely of vampires. All of the undead members felt the sudden urge to rend flesh and bone in the most violent manner possible whenever this particular holiday rolled around. It also made delicate missions such as this difficult. If they weren't careful and got into any fights, a lot of people could end up dying quite painfully tonight.

Mouse was brought out of her dark, clouded thoughts as she felt a shift in the air behind her, as if the very space itself were condensing in on itself. Without turning around, Mouse waited for Crow to finish materializing. She kept her eyes glued to the builing across from her perch as the other girl stepped closer and delivered her message.

"Everything is ready, taichou."

Mouse let out a deep breath, running through the plan one final time and straightening her spine. It was time. She reached up to her neck, brushing her fingers across a thin chain as she pressed a button on her communication collar.

"Alright. Move out."

**PHEW! FINALLY! I'm done with this stupid chapter! It took me over 16 pages to get this all out, and it's only over 7,000 words. :'( I'm sooo glad I managed to update this, finally. It's kinda more of a filler thing than anything else, which I really don't want to complain about. I leave whatever happens to everyone on Halloween night up to your imaginations. Besides, this holiday really wasn't supposed to be centered around these guys!**

**Hopefully I can get everything finished so I'll be right on track with the story!**

**Thanks for all the great reviews I've been getting, they're what gives me my motivation! You know the drill! ;)**

**~Cherry**


	13. Chapter 13

**OK! Since I completely ran out of time to get in the three chapters I wanted before Christmas Eve, I'm going to go ahead and just work on the Christmas special and hopefully upload it tomorrow. I'll have to go back when I get the Halloween and Thanksgiving chapters done and switch them out. That way, everything is in chronological order. **

The smell of cooked turkey and other foods brought Sakura and Naruto wandering into the kitchen from somewhere in the big town house that they lived in. It was Christmas break and everyone was out of school and at home for the holidays. The sounds of dishes clinking into the sink and bouts of arguing rang out through the warm kitchen as the two teenagers drifted in. Sakura took a deep breath of the enticing aroma and opened her eyes.

"Shoo," Tsunade said from her spot by the stove, absently waving a hand in their direction without looking up. "It's not ready yet."

"But Baa-chaaan!" Naruto whined as he hovered closer to the counter top full of food.

"Out." She ordered, this time pointing her finger in the direction of the door. Sakura eyed the mashed potatoes hungrily and tried to keep herself from drooling. Tsunade might not seem like it, but she really knew how to cook. Home dinners were something that both Naruto and Sakura looked forward to greatly, even if the food at school was decent enough.

"C'mon Tsunade," Sakura added her pleading voice to the act. "We're _really_ hungry…" As if to accentuate her point, Naruto's stomach gave a very piteous noise of hunger. The whole room paused before the teenagers burst out into hysterical fits of laughter, Tsunade finally turning to give them an amused, albeit exasperated look. Her expression changed rather quickly when her eyes fell upon the two teenagers twitching in heaps on the floor.

"Why aren't you two dressed?" She asked sternly, arms folding across her chest. The two quite laughing as they saw Tsunade's narrowed visage standing above them. Her high-heeled foot tapped against the tiled floor, impatiently waiting for an answer.

"The guests aren't here yet, so we were gonna wait." Naruto offered meekly from his place by the counter.

"Yeah," Sakura added. "If we wait, we don't have to be all dressed up as long." She grinned up at the scowling blonde haired woman. Tsunade sighed in defeat and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She muttered before turning back to the stove. Naruto and Sakura exchanged grins at each other before standing up. Sakura was heading towards the door when Tsunade's sharp voice cut grabbed her attention, causing her to look back curiously.

"Naruto! Do NOT even dare!" She said sharply, pointing a finger backwards at the blonde haired boy frozen over the rolls, hand stopped inches above the top-most one. Sakura leaned against the door frame in a fit of giggles as Naruto stared in dumb shock at their foster mother.

"How did you do that!" Naruto shouted incredulously at Tsunade, blue eyes stretched wide. Sakura smirked slightly to herself.

"She has eyes in the back of her head, that's how." She teased. "Can't you see them right behind her pigtails?" Naruto's mouth formed into an "o" as he turned to stare at Sakura before quickly whipping his head back towards Tsunade. Sakura chuckled softly as she rolled her eyes and left the kitchen. She paused for a moment when she heard Tsunade give an enraged shout, quickly followed by Naruto running through the doorway with a wooden spoon trailing behind him. Sakura laughed as Naruto nearly ran her over trying to avoid the cooking utensil and cast a confused look backwards.

"Dang, she's really touchy about people trying to look at the eyes on her head, huh?" Naruto said as he looked down at Sakura with a grin. The pink haired girl rolled her eyes and shoved Naruto playfully.

"Stupid, she doesn't _actually_ have eyes in the back of her head," Sakura said as she stuck her tongue out at the blonde. "There was a pan in front of her; she saw you in the reflection." Sakura shook her head as she kept walking down the hall, Naruto casting an awed look back at the kitchen.

"Dude, that's so ninja!" He exclaimed as he caught back up to the shorter girl. Sakura grinned to herself and nodded in agreement; Tsunade could be pretty ninja-like at times.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, causing Sakura and Naruto to snap their heads in the direction of the front door.

"I'LL GET IT!" They both screeched at the same time, bolting for the foyer, each trying to trip the other up in their mad scramble. Tsunade was yelling angrily at them from the kitchen, trying to pull the apron off to greet the first of their guests.

oooooOOOOOooooo

From: Yoko

Subject: BLEHHH

_You know you've gotta tell Naruto at some point, right?_

Sakura sighed as she looked down at the message for the forty-seventh time. Her eyebrows furrowed in irritation as she tried to figure out a way around the complicated mess her roommate had just brought up. She could hear laughter coming from the rooms below her and the sound of Christmas music drifted softly up through the air vents. The first guest had arrived nearly half an hour ago and Sakura was still holed up in her room, trying to get ready with the distraction of her raging thoughts. Well, she actually was ready; she just didn't want to go downstairs anymore. She paced quietly, chewing softly on her nails as she did so and starring at her bare feet.

_You've gotta tell Naruto at some point…_

The thought kept prancing around her mind, providing an irritating and constant reminder that she really _did_ have to tell Naruto about the folder she had seen on Tsunade's desk all those months ago. Sakura had gone back the next day, when she knew Tsunade was in a meeting with the teachers and had searched the office frantically for the folder marked **confidential. **She had found it and sat for what felt like hours poring numerous times over that folder and the three others marked the same. She had discovered with silent relief that _he_ wouldn't be coming back until the next semester. She still wished that he wouldn't be coming back at _all, _but gratefully accepted the eighteen week countdown.

It hadn't mattered so much then; she had time. Plenty of it. Time to get her thoughts in order and figure out how to delicately tell Naruto the news.

That was the news that one Uchiha Sasuke, after two and a half years of being away and all severed contact, was once again returning to Konoha High.

At first, Sakura had been very angry. Incredibly so to be exact. Then she had begun to think of how it was going to affect everyone, Naruto especially. She hadn't known how to tell him, and in fact, didn't want to tell him in fear of how it would make him react. She had given the excuse that she didn't want to distract Naruto from schoolwork, although it was a rather weak excuse to begin with. Naruto was usually always distracted from school, and if he wasn't, he found a way to be. But nevertheless, Sakura stuck by that excuse vehemently.

When Thanksgiving break had come around, Yoko had casually brought it up that Sakura should tell Naruto about the Uchiha's return. It was only fair, after all, since Naruto was one of her closest friends _and_ the one person that Sasuke had meant the world to. But once again, she had chickened out, this time claiming that a week wouldn't be enough for Naruto to get over the shock and it would end up making his grades on the finals even worse than they usually were.

Now it was December 24, Christmas Eve, and Naruto still didn't know. Sakura secretly had been hoping since the beginning of break that Yoko wouldn't bring up their little secret and tell her how she needed to tell Naruto too. She had just gotten confident in the fact that Yoko wouldn't bring it up after a week of silence on the subject when her roommate had finally sent the message. Sakura cursed inwardly to herself. The dark haired girl was probably waiting for her to get comfortable before bringing up the tabooed subject again.

So here Sakura was, pacing across her bedroom floor, decimating her fingernails and trying to keep her fingers from ripping out chunks of her hair. In all honesty, she really wasn't ready for the Uchiha's arrival. She didn't want him to be back, not after her life had settled back into a semblance of normalcy. Her temper would still flare every time she thought of said black haired boy, and she usually felt like ripping the nearest object to pieces whenever she thought of his face. A sudden rapping on her door caused Sakura to jump, whirling around to see Tsunade leaning in around the now opened door.

"You know it's pretty rude to hide away from guests at a party, right?" She said, leaning casually against the door frame, arms and legs crossing lazily. Tsunade was wearing a cream business suit and pencil skirt, her pale blonde hair pulled back into the usual loose ponytails. A light eyebrow arched delicately over honey brown eyes as she stared at Sakura expectantly. The girl offered a small smile in response.

"Sorry, I'm just…a bit nervous is all. I've never been to a social Christmas party and all." Sakura inwardly cringed. It wasn't a lie truthfully, this was the first year she had ever stayed with Naruto and his foster family or attended a high class Christmas party, but it still didn't sound very convincing to her ears. Tsunade didn't really seem to buy it either, but shrugged her shoulders and pushed herself up of the door.

"You don't have to worry," she said as she walked across the room and laid a hand gently on Sakura's shoulder. "All you have to do is be yourself and be polite. It works for Naruto at least." Sakura nodded and gave a weak smile, hoping that Tsunade would take pity on her and let her stay in here room until she could sort out her tumultuous thoughts. However, the older woman didn't seem to want to wait for that to happen, and settled for a time limit.

"You have two minutes." She said with a smile, patting Sakura's head before turning back to the door. "I'm sending up Naruto if you're not down by then."

Sakura grimaced. That was the last thing she needed. So with a sigh she picked up her phone and sent a reply to Yoko. She tossed the phone back onto her bed and turned to look at herself in the mirror.

Her hair was pulled back as best as it could be into a short ponytail, the rest straightened and framing her face. She smoothed down the white sweater dress she was wearing. Tsunade had bought it for her to wear at the Christmas party that she held every year. It was really simple, white with black designs along the neckline, hem, and around her wrists. It was a little short, but Sakura felt it was long enough to wear without leggings. She reached down beside her bed and pulled on the grey leg warmers and tan UGG boots that Tsunade had also bought her to go along with the outfit.*

Sakura sighed again, readjusting the hem of her sweater before she turned and headed out the door. At the top of the stairs she fixed a bright and cheerful grin onto her face, carefully walking down the stairs. A few people turned to look at her from their places on the sofas and various chairs placed around the living room, and Sakura vaguely heard Tsunade introducing her to everyone as the new addition to their family. Sakura did her best to wave shyly at the group of people sitting throughout the room, and offered the excuse of nerves to account for her tardiness.

She relaxed slightly as they bought her excuses and greeted her as cordially as one of high society would greet a teenager that had Sakura's…unique appearance. Sakura smiled cheerfully as she took a seat next to Naruto, who was currently engaging in an argument with an old man whom Sakura recognized to be the Mayor. She vaguely wondered at how Naruto managed to deal with the other guests who they knew to greatly disliked Naruto. She entertained the thought that maybe Naruto could deal with the news of Sasuke's return fairly well and was just about to open her mouth to tell him when she caught herself. She snapped her mouth closed and clamped down on her wild thoughts, struggling to push them out of her mind. She didn't need to deal with this right now, and she cursed herself for being so stupid as to nearly let Naruto know her little secret in front of such a crowd of people. She knew Naruto well enough to know exactly what his first reaction would be and wouldn't make the mistake of telling him now.

Naruto was looking curiously at her now, as were the Mayor and a few others who had noticed her movement. She smiled brightly towards Naruto and shook her head.

"Sorry, it's nothing." She said cheerily, sighing inwardly with relief as Naruto bought it and went back to listening to the Mayor recount stories about his foster parents. Sakura suppressed the groan trying to force its way up her throat, recalling the message she had sent to Yoko a few minutes ago. She knew she was being a coward, but she had good reasons to not tell Naruto yet.

At least that's what she kept telling herself…

_To: Yoko_

_Subject: BLEHHH _

_I'll tell him later._

**So there you have it! The first half of the Christmas special! The next part will be updated tomorrow cuz it has to deal with Christmas day and such. Anyway, hope you guys liked it and are having a great Christmas Eve! Remember what Christmas is all about and be kind to everyone in your family, even if you don't want to be at the various Christmas gatherings and such. **

**Happy Holidays everyone!**

**Oh, and this is the link to the outfit Sakura was wearing for the Christmas party: http:/im .c om/wsphoto/v0/483224462/ free-shipping-Wholesale-201 1-NE W-ARRIVAL-fashion-women-long-slim-swea ter-dress-with-Chri stmas-Deer-lon **

**Just take out the spaces and it should work!**

**~Cherry**


	14. Chapter 14

**Here's the second half of the Christmas special! **

**I'd like to dedicate this to Spaghetti O's, which I have been eating in all their cold, non-cooked deliciousness as I wrote out both parts. They have been a rather helpful inspiration food, and I encourage other writers who find themselves at writer's block to go eat a can of uncooked Spaghetti O's right now! Or some double stuffed Oreo's…those are great inspiration food too…**

Sakura groaned loudly and held her pillow over her head at the sound feet pounding down the hallway towards her room. A moment later, Naruto slammed open the door and, with a loud yell, pounced onto Sakura's bed, landing squarely on the girl's back. With the breath knocked out of her in one loud _oof_, Sakura threw her pillow behind her, hoping against all hope that it would cleanly smack into Naruto's head. Naruto, however, was undaunted by the pillow to his face and proceeded to jump up and down on the poor girl's bed, shaking her shoulders as he did so.

"Wake up Sakura-chan!" He crowed noisily at her. "It's Christmas morning and I wanna open the presents!" Sakura was about to growl out in annoyance when her foggy brain processed what Naruto was saying. Her head rose of its own accord and the small girl found that was she not tired anymore. Naruto stopped bouncing on her shoulders to look at her, grin spreading across his face slowly. Together the two tumbled off the bed as Sakura squirmed out from under the three thick blankets and comforter cocooned around her and scrambled up of the cold wood floor.

The two now fully-awakened teenagers dashed down the stairs and into the master bedroom, Naruto pouncing onto the two still forms like he had done to Sakura.

"C'mon, wake up!" He shouted as he squirmed in between the two figures who both gave startled yelps as Naruto landed. "I got Sakura-chan up like you said to so now we can open presents!" Sakura had stopped in the doorway, laughing to herself as she watched Naruto's antics. It was amazing how one day of the year could send a fully grown, fifteen year old boy into a childish frenzy at the thought of opening the presents sitting under the tree. Sakura herself was excited; Tsunade and Jiraiya had even gotten several presents for her, even though she wasn't technically a part of their family. She in turn had gotten them all gifts too, all of which sat neatly wrapped under the tree in the living room.

As Naruto leapt off of his parents' bed, Sakura turned to go towards the living room. She could hear the grumbles and sighs of Tsunade and Jiraiya as they got up and slowly followed the hyperactive blonde boy. Sakura and Naruto had already settled onto different pieces of furniture as Tsunade and Jiraiya trudged into the rooms, both with robes wrapped tightly around them. Sakura herself had wrapped a blanket around herself, cursing the wood flooring that made the house so cold. Jiraiya plopped down into a recliner with a sigh and Tsunade sat down on the couch next to Sakura.

Naruto bolted from his seat on a different chair and dove for the pile of presents by the tree. He grabbed the first one he saw and turned it over quickly, inspecting it for a nametag. He paused to give Sakura a quick look and rolling her eyes she got up and joined him on the carpet. Together the two quickly sorted the presents into piles, Naruto carelessly throwing his across the room and onto the chair he had previously occupied. Tsunade and Jiraiya were more awake now and the blonde woman lightly wacked Naruto's arm.

"Don't throw things, they could be breakable." Naruto nodded vigorously and went back to his thorough inspection of a big present that had his name on it. While he was engrossed in this task, Sakura wriggled under the tree and pulled out the last present, handing it to Tsunade once she emerged. She crawled back to where her presents were piled and frowned at the untidy heap. She heard the sounds of Naruto ripping paper excitedly from around his present and the shouts of exclamation as he unveiled the first few.

Putting her hands on her hips, Sakura eyed her presents, ignoring the curious looks she was receiving from both adults. The teenager quickly started rearranging the presents, putting the biggest one on the bottom. When she was finished, she sat back with a satisfied smile, looking over the neat pile she had created. She jerked as she felt someone jab her back and looked to see Naruto staring with narrowed eyes at her.

"You know that you're just going to end up making a mess unwrapping them all, right?" He asked, deadpanning slightly. Sakura shrugged.

"So?" Naruto shrugged and crawled back across the rug to what remained of his stack. Sakura took the topmost present off of the pile delicately and turned it over in her hands. She could feel Tsunade and Jiraiya watching every now and then as they looked up from their own wrapped gifts. With a slightly twisted grin, Sakura began excitedly tearing the paper apart, adding more noise to the din Naruto was making. While Sakura was quickly unwrapping her presents, she would still stop and pick at bits of tape that refused to come off until she finally managed to remove it. Her methodical yet vicious unwrapping made her the last person to finish opening her gifts. Naruto had at some point tried to help her unwrapping, but she shooed him away with her hand and went back to work.

She finally finished and placed the last gift in the new pile beside her. She grinned brightly as she and Naruto began comparing gifts and going through each other's stockings. When she had finally gotten all her gifts in one pile, Sakura couldn't help but grin and start inspecting each one thoroughly.

"What's the matter?" Jiraiya asked, a teasing smile on his face. Sakura looked up from the video game she was in currently looking at, white bangs falling in her eyes. "You act like you can't believe you got presents." Tsunade cast an exasperated look at him, earning a shrug in reply.

"I've never gotten any." Sakura said blankly, continuing her blank stare at the older man. Her remark earned looks of surprise from almost everyone in the room.

"Never?" Tsunade asked, slightly disbelieving. Sakura tilted her head back and shook it, her shaggy hair flopping.

"Nope. This is the first Christmas I've ever actually had." She went back to inspecting the videogame in her hands but paused and looked up thoughtfully.

"Well, no that's not true," She placed her finger on her chin. "I've gotten presents from people at school." She cast a grin at Naruto before placing the videogame on the floor. She tried to engross herself in the mundane task of inspection so she wouldn't have to see the surprised looks being exchanged between the adults. Naruto sat next to her and helped her go through the pile, effectively ending the subject and not allowing his parents to continue it with questions.

Later, after Sakura and Naruto had helped clean up the sea of paper scraps in the living room, the two were lounging upstairs in the game room, Sakura currently owning her best friend in the MW3 game they were playing.

"Dammit!" Naruto cursed loudly as his avatar died for the eighth time in a row. "How come you're so good at this game!" He dropped his controller, crossing his arms as he pouted. Sakura laughed loudly as she went to restart the game.

"Because while you and Kiba waste your skills on Guitar Hero and Smash Brothers, _I _play this game with Gaara and Sai all the time." Naruto took his controller and tried to direct his character in the direction mine was hiding in.

"So that's why they're always in the girls' dormitory…" He said as he pressed a button on his controller. He frowned as he watched his avatar throw something and made it go after it. He swore loudly again as his avatar promptly blew up. Sakura fell off the couch from laughing so hard. Naruto scowled at the tv screen and tossed his controller in Sakura's direction.

"Ah, shut up…" He muttered crossly, only to have Sakura burst out into more giggles when the controller missed. Naruto stuck his tongue out at her and turned his attention elsewhere.

Something white caught the blonde's eye as he looked by the window. Tilting his head slightly in curiosity, Naruto pushed himself up onto his feet. Sakura stopped giggling hysterically as he passed her and she sat up on her arms, looking at him questioningly.

"What is it?" She asked trying to see out the window. She got up and quickly caught up to Naruto as he looked outside the window, pushing the slightly opened curtains aside. Naruto let out a crow of delight and bolted from the room, screaming at the top of his lungs so the whole house hold could hear.

"IT'S SNOWING!"

Sakura grinned broadly, rushing back to the couch to pick up her phone. She hit the unlock button, hell-bent on spreading the news to her friends. She froze as the screen lit up, showing her a message. She hadn't looked at her phone at all last night, not after sending a reply to Yoko's message. She had in all truth forgotten about the conversation during the party. Now it came back to her, slamming into her thoughts with almost enough force to knock her down, and with it came a wave of anxiety. She bit her nails as she stared intently at the message displayed on her screen.

From: Yoko

_You better._

Sakura sighed in defeat, unlocking her phone and typing in the password. She knew that those two words meant that her roommate would make damn sure that Naruto knew of Uchiha Sasuke's return. She really had to do it then, even if it meant crushing Naruto's happy spirit. But as said hyperactive blonde came bursting into the room again, grabbing her arms and forcing her to spin around the room with him in excitement with a grin plastered across his tan face, Sakura's will began to wilt again. She didn't know if she could stand seeing that smile wiped off of her best friends face.

But she still had to tell him.

**oooooOOOOOooooo**

Sasuke stepped out of the long hallway leading off of the plane, backpack slung haphazardly over his shoulder. He turned the volume of his iPod up as loud as it could go in an attempt to block out the annoying chatter of his siblings and the people around him. He didn't pay attention to see if any of the others were keeping up, nor did he care if they were. He just wanted to get down to baggage claim, grab his stuff, and get out of the crowded airport. Better yet, he wanted to turn around, get back on the plane and go back to Oto. Unfortunately, he only had a one-way ticket here.

He brooded silently as he waited next to the luggage terminal for his "family" to catch up with him. He spotted a bright swath of orange hair towering above the rest of the people and tried to fix a casual, bored expression on his face, attempting to remove all traces of the dread he felt. Karin bounded up to him, saying something he couldn't hear and grabbed onto his arm just as the first of the luggage began to slide down the chute.

He was glad for the music blaring in his head that blocked out the argument Suigetsu and Karin were currently engaged in. With a sweep of his eyes he noted that Kabuto and Orochimaru were conversing over a map, and Juugo was standing awkwardly to the side, smiling shyly at the people that gawked up at him. Out of the four of them, Juugo had been the only sibling who hadn't found some reason to complain about the move. He had simply nodded and went back to hiding in his room, not offering his opinion on the matter when asked.

Once they all had their luggage and Kabuto went to get a car rental for them, the group made their way to the giant glass doors of the airport. The afternoon sun shone brightly through them, causing Sasuke to wince uncomfortably.

_Damn sun…_ he grumbled to himself as he pulled his sunglasses from the side pocket of his bag and slipped them over his eyes. He stepped out through the doors behind everyone else, sweeping his gaze around to take in the view. He could see his siblings giving out loud exclamations and noted the awe-struck looks on their faces. Not even Oto compared to the magnificent city that rose up to tower around them.

The glass skyscrapers glittered in the sunlight that shined down from a clear blue sky, and people crowded the sidewalks, walking passed quickly. A green park glared its color out amidst the grey a block away. Vendors sat on every corner that he could see, displaying their own bright visage and giving off the aromas of their delicacies. Sasuke could hear the shouts of the people, the blaring honks, and the sounds of motors revving even above the music. That's when the full reality of his situation hit Sasuke, breaking over his consciousness like a wave, bringing for an awful, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach when the realization sunk in.

He was back.

**OK! That's the second part of the Christmas special! I didn't even think about adding in that last part with the Oto kids until I was just finishing up Sakura's part. Then it hit me that I didn't exactly make a part where Sasuke arrives in Konoha. So I kinda came up with something really quick. I kinda like the ending to it, it makes it rather dramatic. **

**Like I said, I'll have to go back and add the Halloween and Thanksgiving chapters when I get them written up. I hope you guys enjoyed the Christmas special and had an amazing Christmas day! I'll try to add a New Year's Eve special too, but I'm going to be really busy this next week. We have to take down our Christmas decorations and take out all the stuff in my room. We're going to be a host family for a South Korean girl and she'll be here on the 30****th****, so we have to get everything ready!**

****Edit** OMG! ( I completely forgot to update this one Christmas day. Sorry about that everyone. Here's a really late Christmas gift.**

**~Cherry.**

**P.S.- I do not own the games Guitar Hero or Modern Warfare 3. My friends have copies of the games, but alas, I don't have even that. The video games and gaming consoles used to play them belong to their respective owners and designers. Thank you!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorry for the late update you guys! I meant to put this out yesterday before midnight, but none of the computers would get on the internet. I had to work all day too, so I had to wait until now… ^^' Anyway, here's the New Year's chapter of Secrets!**

Sasuke sat at his desk, staring out the window next to it and trying to ignore the piles of unpacked boxes around him. He was currently sitting in his new bedroom in Konoha, trying to block out the noises of his family getting ready to go to the festival in the center of the city. He ignored the knock on his door as Suigetsu stuck his head in.

"Oi, Sasuke!" He said loudly. "You comin' or are you gonna keep moping in here all night?" Sasuke sent a glare at the white haired teen, wishing very much to throw something at that annoying grin. Suigetsu held up his hands in mock defense.

"Just askin' sheesh…" He muttered, leaning on the door frame. Sasuke noted the purple kimono Suigetsu was wearing, with a silver and grey design of the sea along the edge.

"So you're really not goin', huh?" Suigetsu asked, arms crossing over his chest. "Don't you think it would be good, considering how we have to live here and all? Why not celebrate our moving here at the festival?" Sasuke shot another glare towards Suigetsu and turned back to his laptop that sat closed on the desk beside him. Opening it up, Sasuke turned it on with a quiet grunt.

"I'm not going." He stated for the hundredth time. "I can't stand crowds and this festival is overrated." Suigetsu shrugged, muttering an exasperated "whatever" before leaving. Sasuke heard the other boy shouting down the hallway that he "was being a sissy and refusing to go to the festival." The raven haired boy rolled his eyes and started up his laptop, trying to once again block out everyone in the house. He wasn't very successful as he was interrupted a few minutes later, this time by Karin.

The girl had pulled her haphazardly cut red hair up into a ponytail, part of her hair already falling out of the band. She wore a black kimono with a flower pattern around the right side that reached up and across the front of the outfit. The flowers were shades of red and pink. Karin's kimono was left slightly opened at the top and the hem pulled up past her knees. She crossed her arms and pouted at Sasuke, peering over the rim of her glasses.

"Please come with us, Sasuke…" she said sulkily. The raven haired teen rolled his eyes and fixed her with a pointed stare.

"No." Karin sighed in frustration.

"Why not!" She whined. "It'll be fun, I promise!" Sasuke sighed and got up, walking towards Karin and causing her to stumble back a bit in surprise.

"I said, no." And he promptly shut the door in her face. Karin's muffled voice called through the door.

"Why don't you want to come? It's our first week in Konoha and you haven't left your room once!" Sasuke turned from the door, yelling back over his shoulder in a matter-of-fact voice.

"Too cold." He heard Karin sigh in exasperation as he sat down again in his chair. Thankfully she took the hint and was going away.

"Wait a second!"

Well, so much for that.

"You never get cold! You're a fucking walking heater!"

At least he remembered to lock the door.

oooooOOOOOooooo

Sakura stared intently at the little puffs of fog that appeared in front of her face every few seconds as she exhaled. She shivered violently and pulled her jacket tighter around her, rubbing her arms and fingers to put back a little warmth in them. Around her, she listened to the chatter of the rest of her friends as they tried to make themselves comfortable on the blankets. All sixteen teenagers were currently spread out across the flat roof above the main office building of Konoha high. From their vantage point, they had an amazing view of the city that stretched out across from them, lights twinkling in the night time sky and flashing by along the highways.

They technically weren't supposed to be there, since the school was closed for the holidays, but it beat the crowded square of Konoha's center where the festival was taking place. Some of them were still dressed up in their festival kimonos, piles of blankets draped around them or heaters blazing off heat near them. The group had been at the New Year's Eve festival for the past four hours and had snuck back here to watch the grand finale. Sakura could see the lights that lit up the square and although they were pretty far away from it, they were using Neji's laptop to view the live streaming of the festival. Tenten's loud voice cut above the laughs and chatter of the teenagers.

"OI, shut it!" she yelled excitedly. "The countdown is about to start!"

_Tick..._

Sakura got up to move closer to the laptop, finding a spot next to Naruto. The blonde haired boy was sitting next to Hinata, hands wrapped tightly around a steaming cup of cocoa as he was chattering away about how excited he was to see the fireworks display. He scooted over to make room for Sakura on their blanket, moving a few of the noise blowers and blow horns that were assembled in a small pile near him. Sakura sat down and snuggled closer, thankful for the new source of warmth. Tenten called out the start of the minute countdown, nearly yelling the number at the top of her lungs.

_Tick…_

The pinkette looked around at the shadowy group, all sitting down around Neji's laptop, watching intently with excited faces or talking to each other happily. Sai was telling something to Ino, who seemed to listen with rapt attention, but would cast furtive glances across the group every now and then. Sakura knew she was trying to see if Shikamaru was looking her way. Shikamaru, however, seemed to have no intention of looking away from Temari, who was currently cuddled up next to him and whispering something with a smirk.

_Tick…_

Her brothers were sitting close by, both scowling and arms crossed as they watched their elder sister and her boyfriend. Lee was sitting with Neji and Tenten, boasting about his New Year's resolution to beat Neji at a judo match. The Hyuuga boy was sitting as stoically as usual, egging Lee on as Tenten yelled at both of them to shut up so she could hear the laptop. Kiba had sat down on Hinata's other side and was attempting to get her attention from Naruto. Shino stood in the back, silently watching the group as always, the lights from the city glittering back against his dark glasses. Chouji seemed to be in a deep discussion with Yoko, probably about some new kind of French pastry that Yoko had tried.

_Tick…_

Everyone looked so happy and perfect to Sakura, especially her best friend who had started an argument with Kiba. _If only it could stay like this_… She thought forlornly. It had been a very uninteresting year so far, even though they had added Sai and the Sand siblings to their little group of misfits. The new additions had a unique way of fitting in to the group individually. But in the end, everything had worked out and they were all one big happy family. Well, that wouldn't last for long. The count had finally reached ten, and the others were starting to get up, grabbing noise makers and setting down cups of hot chocolate.

_Tick…_

Sakura vaguely heard Naruto turn to her and ask her about her New Year's resolution. She kept her eyes glued to the laptop, watching the numbers tick down to zero. It was ironic, really. A simple countdown to bring in the new year, and it felt more like it was the countdown to a bomb that was just about to blow. And in a way, it really was.

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

_Tick…_

"You wanna know what my resolution is, Naruto?" She asked as the clock ticked closer. She saw her friend nod vigorously and grin down at her from the corner of her eye. Her lips pressed into a thin line as she watched the numbers change. _It's now or never, _she thought bitterly. _What a great way to bring in the new year…_ Sakura opened her mouth to speak.

"He came back." She said, just loud enough for Naruto to hear over the shouts. Sakura saw him open his mouth, lips beginning to form a question in reply.

_Tick…_

"Who?" He asked. Sakura finally turned her head to look up at Naruto, her green eyes bore deep into the blonde's cerulean blue orbs watching her, grin disappearing from his face. The timer reached zero and their friends burst into loud shouts and screams, jumping around them as a light shot up from the city's center, like a shooting star in reverse. Sakura braced herself for the proverbial bombshell that was about to explode around her. A shower of lights lit up the dark sky as she stared up at her best friend, finally allowing the panic she had been feeling ever since the beginning of school to show. She couldn't help but feel regret for what she was about to do as the name formed itself on her lips.

"Sasuke."

_BOOM._

**Well, that's it! I know the moment was really clichéd, but oh well. I kinda liked it myself. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to write this chapter at ALL this week. My family and I have been trying to put up the inside Christmas decorations and clean out my room ever since Sunday. We've been trying to get ready for our host student to get here and I've just now had time to write this today (Wednesday). I hope you all liked this and I'll try to start on the actual thirteenth and fourteenth chapters tonight!**

**~Cherry**


	16. Chapter 16

Hey guys, quick update. It's been recently on my heart/mind that this story isn't exactly where I want it to be, both in writing and moral. So, I decided that I'm going on a hiatus for a few months to go back through all the chapters and change them. I won't delete this story right now, that way if anyone reads it and thinks of something that I could use to make it better while I'm fixing it up, I can have that input. Sorry about being gone for so long and then suddenly springing this disappointment. :l

~Cherry


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